Synopses & Reviews
It is virtually impossible to watch a movie or TV show without preconceived notions because of the hype that precedes them, while a host of media extensions guarantees them a life long past their air dates. An onslaught of information from print media, trailers, internet discussion, merchandising, podcasts, and guerilla marketing, we generally know something about upcoming movies and TV shows well before they are even released or aired. The extras, or “paratexts,” that surround viewing experiences are far from peripheral, shaping our understanding of them and informing our decisions about what to watch or not watch and even how to watch before we even sit down for a show.
Show Sold Separately gives critical attention to this ubiquitous but often overlooked phenomenon, examining paratexts like DVD bonus materials for The Lord of the Rings, spoilers for Lost, the opening credits of The Simpsons, Star Wars actions figures, press reviews for Friday Night Lights, the framing of Batman Begins, the videogame of The Thing, and the trailers for The Sweet Hereafter. Plucking these extra materials from the wings and giving them the spotlight they deserve, Jonathan Gray examines the world of film and television that exists before and after the show.
Review
"Show Sold Separately will rewrite the rules of what we look at when we want to understand how audiences make meaning of media franchises. Gray, who has long established himself in the top ranks of contemporary scholars of popular culture, writes with particularity about these varied media properties and their paratexts, yet also writes with a theoretical sophistication which feels effortless."
-Henry Jenkins,author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
Review
"Show Sold Separately will rewrite the rules of what we look at when we want to understand how audiences make meaning of media franchises. Gray, who has long established himself in the top ranks of contemporary scholars of popular culture, writes with particularity about these varied media properties and their paratexts, yet also writes with a theoretical sophistication which feels effortless."
“Exploring the myriad connections and connotations of a wide array of paratextual materials ranging from movie trailers to action figures, Gray deftly challenges established conceptions of textuality, and opens up intriguing and important new dimensions in media and cultural studies. This is an invaluable contribution, and will change how we think about, and make, media.”
Review
“Exploring the myriad connections and connotations of a wide array of paratextual materials ranging from movie trailers to action figures, Gray deftly challenges established conceptions of textuality, and opens up intriguing and important new dimensions in media and cultural studies. This is an invaluable contribution, and will change how we think about, and make, media.”
-Derek Kompare,author of Rerun Nation: How Repeats Invented American Television
Review
"The Alice Companion presents copious evidence, from firm facts to the slightest of suppositions, which might serve as skeleton keys for the reader eager to pick those cryptic works, revealing what is to be Found There."-Roy Porter,
Synopsis
Highlights the trailers, merchandising and cultural conversations that shape our experiences of film and television
It is virtually impossible to watch a movie or TV show without preconceived notions because of the hype that precedes them, while a host of media extensions guarantees them a life long past their air dates. An onslaught of information from print media, trailers, internet discussion, merchandising, podcasts, and guerilla marketing, we generally know something about upcoming movies and TV shows well before they are even released or aired. The extras, or "paratexts," that surround viewing experiences are far from peripheral, shaping our understanding of them and informing our decisions about what to watch or not watch and even how to watch before we even sit down for a show.
Show Sold Separately gives critical attention to this ubiquitous but often overlooked phenomenon, examining paratexts like DVD bonus materials for The Lord of the Rings, spoilers for Lost, the opening credits of The Simpsons, Star Wars actions figures, press reviews for Friday Night Lights, the framing of Batman Begins, the videogame of The Thing, and the trailers for The Sweet Hereafter. Plucking these extra materials from the wings and giving them the spotlight they deserve, Jonathan Gray examines the world of film and television that exists before and after the show.
Synopsis
One of the most elusive and enigmatic writers of the Victorian era, Lewis Carroll has also proven one of the most durable writers of his age, consistently popular with children and adults alike.
The Alice Companion opens a window into the mind of Carroll and his muse, Alice Liddell, as they created the mystical, turbulent, and clever world described in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Jo Elwyn Jones and J. Francis Gladstone provide valuable insights into the life and works of Carroll, adding a crucial, new dimension to our knowledge of Alice's celebrated phantasmagoric wonderland. Unraveling secretive jokes in the Alice stories and their derivations from nineteenth-century Oxford life or uncovering the real life models for such figures as the Dormouse, the Ugly Duchess, and the White Rabbit, the book also provides access to Alice in all her disguises: in film, on the stage, as seen by various illustrators, and as interpreted in different countries. Filled with critical, linguistic, biographical, and bibliographical information, The Alice Companion will prove an indispensable reference on this renowned surrealist writer.
About the Author
Jonathan Gray is associate professor of media and cultural studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author of Television Entertainment and Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality and co-editor of Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era and Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World (both available from NYU Press).