Talking with Television
Author: Helen Wood
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 258
ISBN-13: 0252076028
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Television talk shows have fueled debates about television's faltering role as a medium for social interaction, but this book points out that many viewers don't just absorb the shows; they react to them and even talk back to their televisions. By observing and analyzing the daily viewing habits of a dozen women viewers, Helen Wood interprets these experiences as daily rituals of self-reflexivity, focusing on the performance of gender as a doubling of place in contemporary conditions of modernity. Directly challenging the fundamental assumption that new media forms are uniquely interactive, Talking with Television reveals that televisual styles, particularly talk-based TV, have always sought to encourage a participatory relationship with viewers at home.