Douglas Kellner has provided a serious, scholarly work on contemporary media culture---TV, film, musicùin Media Culture: Cultural studies, identity and politics between the modern and the postmodern, first published in 1995. Blending theory and popular images of contemporary culture, the book focuses on the United States. Kellner provides an overview of the book and its purpose in the Introduction, as well as some key notions.
A major theme is the role of culture in shaping individuals by dominating everyday life. Kellner argues that media culture is the major form of culture that socializes people. Individuals in contemporary U.S. society spend ôtremendous amounts of timeö participating in forms of media culture such as experiencing music, listening to the radio, watching TV, going to the movies, shopping, and reading magazines and newspapers (2). According to Kellner, media culture demonstrates ôwho has power and who is powerlessö (2). The book therefore is an exploration of ôsome of the consequences for a society and culture colonized by media cultureö (3). Another notion is that media and consumer culture provide the resources that enable people to form their own identities, and this is a powerful concept.
Kellner is interested in developing the best method
possible to study culture and society in order to understand the full impact of media culture. He relies on social theory to ôcontextualize, interpret, and analyze the nature and effects of media cultureö (4). Although his approach is pedagogical, his material is lively ranging from TV cop shows (ôMiami Viceö) to popular films (ôRamboö), cyberpunk fiction, Madonna and rap music. For example, he discusses the beat and pleasure of listening to rap music as well as the theory that ôrap itself is best seen as a cultural forum for urban blacks to articulate their experiences, concerns, and politicsö (176). In the chapter on ôMiami Vice and the politics o...