Media, Culture and Society Study Guide

Busy?

Study guide here. We will use some class time to go over it in class on Tuesday. Enjoy.

The In-Between Years

The Folk Revival:

The Kingston Trio - Tom Dooley
Pete Seeger - Turn Turn Turn!
Joan Baez - Silver Dagger
Bob Dylan - Masters of War
Lyrics here.

Surf & Hot Rod Combos:

The Beach Boys - Surfin USA
Dick Dale & The Del-Tones - Miserlou
Link Wray & His Ray Men - Rumble (Outtake)
The Stingers (Jack Cole) - Mustang

Uptown R&B from Motown/All songs by Holland-Dozier-Holland:

Martha & The Vandellas - Nowhere To Run
The Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There
The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love
Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is

Girl Groups/Phil Spector Wall of Sound/Songs by Weill & Mann:

The Ronettes - Be My Baby
The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me
The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron

Cynthia Weill & Barry Mann songs NOT produced by Phil Spector:

Lesley Gore - It's My Party

The Wall of Sound in full-effect:

Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep, Mountain High

The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

Readings:
Keightley, "Reconsidering Rock"

nb. You will not be responsible for this reading for the midterm. We will discuss the issues and concepts raised in it after the exam. I do however urge you to read it as it offers a lot of points that would help your review of material that will actually be covered on the midterm.

In Garofalo you should read up to and including Chapter 6.

Audiences

Ang, "The Nature of the Audience"
Gandy, "Tracking the Audience"
Meehan, "Don't Blame The Viewers"
Nussbaum, "What Would Tina Fey Do For A SoyJoy?"

Movies, Movies, Movies!

Oscar Isaac in Joel and Ethan Coen's, Inside Llewyn Davis

Since many of you lamented the Italian practice of dubbing films I figured you would all appreciate this small special program that is currently happening at the Sacher Theater (it's in Trastevere, on the other side of the Viale Trastevere, towards Porta Portese; the theater is owned by Nanni Moretti, well known Italian director). All film screened with their original language with Italian subs. Lots of the best picture nominated films from this year's academy awards, a couple of 'music' films (the Searching for Sugarman documentary and the Coen Brother's Inside Llewyn Davis about the early 60s folk revival scene in NYC), a great documentary (The Act of Killing) and much much more.

Here's the program (film titles are in Italian, you'll have to figure them out on your own). Enjoy.

TH 20
ore 16.00 BLUE JASMINE W. Allen 98’
ore 18.00 NEBRASKA A. Payne 121’
ore 20.30 BLUE JASMINE W. Allen 98’
ore 22.30 NEBRASKA A. Payne 121’

F 21
ore 16.30 VENERE IN PELLICCIA R. Polanski 96’
ore 18.30 PHILOMENA S. Frears 98’
ore 20.30 VENERE IN PELLICCIA R. Polanski 96’
ore 22.30 PHILOMENA S. Frears 98’

SAT 22
ore 16.00 I SEGRETI DI OSAGE COUNTY J. Wells 119’
ore 18.15 DIETRO I CANDELABRI S. Soderbergh 118’
ore 21.00 THE WOLF OF WALL STREET M. Scorsese 180’

SUN 23
ore 16.15 DALLAS BUYERS CLUB J.M. Vallée 117’
ore 18.30 VENERE IN PELLICCIA R. Polanski 96’
ore 20.45 THE BUTLER L. Daniels 132’

MON 24
ore 16.00 DALLAS BUYERS CLUB J.M. Vallée 117’
ore 18.15 NEBRASKA A. Payne 121’
ore 21.00 I SEGRETI DI OSAGE COUNTY J. Wells 119’

TUE 25
ore 15.45 I SEGRETI DI OSAGE COUNTY J. Wells 119’
ore 18.00 I SEGRETI DI OSAGE COUNTY J. Wells 119’
ore 20.15 THE ACT OF KILLING J. Oppenheimer 120’
ore 22.30 THE ACT OF KILLING J. Oppenheimer 120’

W 26
ore 16.00 AMERICAN HUSTLE D. O. Russell 135’
ore 18.30 VENERE IN PELLICCIA R. Polanski 96’
ore 21.00 AMERICAN HUSTLE D. O. Russell 135’

TH 27
ore 16.00 IL PASSATO A. Farhadi 130’
ore 18.20 IL PASSATO A. Farhadi 130’
ore 20.45 SUGAR MAN M. Bendjelloul 86’
ore 22.30 PHILOMENA S. Frears 98’

F 28
ore 16.00 THE BUTLER L. Daniels 132’
ore 18.30 THE BUTLER L. Daniels 132’
ore 21.00 A PROPOSITO DI DAVIS J. & E. Coen 105’

SAT 1
ore 16.00 DIETRO I CANDELABRI S. Soderbergh 118’
ore 18.15 LA VITA DI ADELE A. Kechiche 179’
ore 21.45 STILL LIFE U. Pasolini 87’

SUN 2
ore 16.00 DALLAS BUYERS CLUB J.M. Vallée 117’
ore 18.15 AMERICAN HUSTLE D. O. Russell 135’
ore 21.00 THE WOLF OF WALL STREET M. Scorsese 180’

MON 3
ore 16.00 DALLAS BUYERS CLUB J.M. Vallée 117’
ore 18.15 A PROPOSITO DI DAVIS J. & E. Coen 105’
ore 21.00 AMERICAN HUSTLE D. O. Russell 135’

TUE 4
ore 16.15 A PROPOSITO DI DAVIS J. & E. Coen 105’
ore 18.15 MOLIERE IN BICICLETTA Ph. Le Guay 104’
ore 20.15 I SEGRETI DI OSAGE COUNTY J. Wells 119’
ore 22.30 STILL LIFE U. Pasolini 87’

W 5
ore 16.00 BLUE JASMINE W. Allen 98’
ore 18.00 LA GABBIA DORATA D. Quemada-Diez 102’
ore 20.30 UNA FRAGILE ARMONIA Y. Zilberman 105’
ore 22.30 UNA FRAGILE ARMONIA Y. Zilberman 105’

R'n'R or Trasubstantiated R'n'B?

Elvis Presley - That's All Right, Mama + Blue Moon of Kentucky
Bill Haley & The Comets - Crazy Man Crazy
Fats Domino - Ain't That A Shame + Blueberry Hill
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
Chuck Berry - Almost Grown + Little Queenie
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing
The Chords - Sh-Boom
Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall In Love

TV After TV: Readings II

Hello all. As we finish our section on the Practices of Creating Television please make sure that you have read:
in Lotz, Chapter 3: Making Television
in Gomery & Hockley, TV As Business + Making Programmes

By the time the midterm rolls along you should also have read Chapters 1-5 in the Havens & Lotz, Understanding Media Industries. This will be background, catch up, reading for many but it is important material to both contextualize the other readings and our class discussion as well as help for you to reflect on the nature of the Entertainment Industry as a whole and the place of TV within it.

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers: Something Wild

This is the Lindy Hop, the Jitterbug, the Suzie-Q. The clip is an excerpt from H.C. Potter's Helzapoppin' (1941). The Lindy Hoppers doing "The Big Apple" in 1939 are here. Enjoy.
In this clip the dancing starts at the 2:15 mark.



from Jonathan Demme's Something Wild; The Feelies play David Bowies's "Fame" and Jeff Daniels dances with his eye on the 'Other' for cues.

R'n'B is on the Indies

Big Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle and Roll
Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog
Rufus Thomas - Bear Cat
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - That's All Right
Jackie Brenston & His Delta Kings (aka Ike Turner) - Rocket 88
Junior Parker - Mystery Train
Little Walter - Dead Presidents

Post-War Hillbillies: Western Swing, Honky Tonk and Bluegrass

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys - Take Me Back To Tulsa

Hank Williams - Hey Goodlookin' + Lovesick Blues

Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys - Muleskinner Blues + Blue Moon Of Kentucky

The Sound Begins: Popular Music Readings II

in Garofalo:

-Chapter 2: Blues and Country Music: Mass Media and the Construction of Race
-Chapter 3: “Good Rockin’ Tonight”: The Rise of Rhythm and Blues

Charlie Gillet from The Sound of the City, "The Sound Begins"
Nelson George from The Death of Rhythm and Blues, "Dark Voices in the Night"

Shut Up!

Here are the rest of the chapters that have been assigned up to now. There will be more where these came from as we wait for the publishers and distributors to get their act together. Enjoy.

Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 15

Pre-War Specialties

Doc Boggs - Sugar Baby

Jimmie Rodgers - Mule Skinner Blues

The Carter Family - Wildwood Flower

Jimmie Rodgers & The Carter Family - Blue Yodel

Skip James - Devil Got My Woman

Robert Johnson - Love in Vain

Blind Willie Johnson, "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground"
"The most transcendent piece in all American music" (Ry Cooder)

TV After TV: Reading Recap

Please make sure you are all up to speed with the readings assigned in the books (Lotz + Gomery&Hockley) and the ones posted on this blog in the previous tvaftertv post.

At this point you should have read the articles by Hilmes and Marshall as well as the Introduction, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 from the Lotz, The Television Will Be Revolutionized.
In addition please start reading the "Television Technology" section (pg. 19-39) in the Gomery&Hockley Television Industries.

Keep watching the TV.

What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream: Political Economy, Media Performance, Functions and Roles

Source: Frugal dad

An up-to-date infographic on media consolidation. Use this to think through the issues of consumer sovereignty, the illusion of the market as democratic regulator, the media's role in democracy and its social function, etc. as well as the issues raised by Herman and Curran and our discussions in class.

Also, what makes mainstream media mainstream? How does this prevent the media from fulfilling the social roles that liberal democratic theory assigns to it?

Noam Chomsky, What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream
James Curran, Mass Media and Democracy Revisited
Eric Alterman, What Liberal Media?
Ed Herman, Media in the US Political Economy

David Croteau & William Hoynes, "The New Media Giants: Changing Industry Structure"

Converging Media Student Resource Website here.

Art & Folk

Beethoven - Symphony N.9 d-moll Op. 125 (extract)

Text by Schiller here.

Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight"

Chopin - Nocturne b-moll Op. 9 No. 1

Schumann - Dichterliebe, Opus 48, "A Poet's Love"

Text by Heine here.

Schumann - Liderkreis, Op. 39, "Intermezzo"

Text by Eichendorff here.

Schubert - An Silvia (D891 1826)

Text by Shakespeare here.

The virtuoso instrumentalist and composer as superstar: Franz Liszt.

Good interview on WNYC's Soundcheck with Tim Blanning author of The Triumph of Music, a 'social history' of musicians in the west and how they went from being considered merely servants to being 'stars'. This is an excellent example of metacontextual musical knowledge. Required listening.

Download entire interview mp3 here. Stream interview.

from North Vietnam: A Brao Song

from the Mississippi Delta: Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night

from the Mississippi Delta: Alan Lomax Collection - Arwhoolie (Cornfield Holler)

from Ireland: The Dubliners - Home Boys Home

from Democratic Republic of Congo: Konono No. 1 - Ditshe Tshiekutala

from India: Ravi Shankar - Dhun

But this is not 'folk music' as we defined it, rather it is an example of the 'high' in a different cultural and social context.