Graeme Turner

The 'demotic turn' is a term coined by Graeme Turner to describe the increasing visibility of the 'ordinary person' in the media today. In this dynamic and insightful book he explores the 'whys' and 'hows' of the 'everyday' individual's willingness to turn themselves into media content through: · Celebrity culture, · Reality TV, · DIY websites, · Talk radio, · User-generated materials online. Initially proposed in order to analyse the pervasiveness of celebrity culture, this book further develops the idea of the demotic turn as a means of examining the common elements in a range of 'hot spots' in debates within media and cultural studies today. Refuting the proposition that the demotic turn necessarily carries with it a democratising politics, this book examines the political and cultural function of the demotic turn in media production and consumption across the fields of reality TV, print and electronic news and current affairs journalism, citizen and online journalism, talk radio, and user-generated content online. It examines these fields in order to outline a structural shift in what the western media has been doing lately, and to suggest that these media activities represent something much more fundamental than contemporary media fashion.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can be one of the most disabling of all the anxiety disorders and is frequently misdiagnosed and ineffectively treated. It is also an area in which there have been recent major advances. This book sets out to solve this problem, presenting doctors with practical guidance and at the same time a state-of-the-art summary of all the latest developments.

This fourth edition of our bestselling text has been comprehensively updated and revised to include contemporary film analysis and recent films. With a focus on contemporary popular cinema and examples from Classical Hollywood, Graeme Turner examines the social and cultural aspects of film from audiences and ideologies to exhibition and technology. This fourth edition now includes:new sections dealing with debates about spectacle and special effects an extended treatment of sound and its contribution to cinemafilm theory’s discussion of the representation of race and ethnicitya thorough update of individual film referencesa revised applications chapter that includes new contemporary examplesnew illustrations from contemporary popular cinema. Students of film studies, film practice and film theory will find this a welcome addition to their degree course studies.

This fourth edition of our bestselling classic text has been comprehensively updated and revised to include contemporary film analysis and recent films. With a focus on contemporary popular cinema and examples from Classical Hollywood, Graeme Turner examines the social and cultural aspects of film from audiences and ideologies to exhibition and technology. This fourth edition now includes:new sections dealing with debates about spectacle and special effects an extended treatment of sound and its contribution to cinemafilm theory’s discussion of the representation of race and ethnicitya thorough update of individual film referencesa revised applications chapter that includes new contemporary examplesnew illustrations from contemporary popular cinema. Students of film studies, film practice and film theory will find this a welcome addition to their degree course studies.

Ending the Affair examines the state of current affairs television in Australia today by pondering its future, while drawing lessons from the past. The book questions the social and political value of what we now think of as current affairs journalism. Underpinning this approach is the conviction that TV current affairs serves functions which are important to a civilised democracy. If the contemporary version of television current affairs is not serving that function - and if there is nothing else which is - then ""Ending the Affair"" suggests this is cause for concern. Along the way, the book provides fresh insight into key components of the history of Australian television current affairs. It deals with the earliest programs (""This Day Tonight"", for example), as well as with the most contemporary versions (""A Current Affair""); with commercial free-to-air programs, as well as the ABC, SBS and pay TV. Finally, the analysis is placed within the industrial and regulatory conditions in which Australian TV current affairs are produced and consumed.

is a comprehensive introduction to the British tradition of cultural studies. Turner offers an accessible overview of the central themes that have informed British cultural studies: language, semiotics, Marxism and ideology, individualism, subjectivity and discourse. Beginning with a history of cultural studies, Turner discusses the work of such pioneers as Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, E. P. Thompson, Stuart Hall and the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. He then explores the central theorists and categories of British cultural studies: texts and contexts; audience; everyday life; ideology; politics, gender and race. The third edition of this successful text has been fully revised and updated to include:* How to apply the principles of cultural studies and how to read a text* An overview of recent ethnographic studies* Discussion of anthropological theories of consumption* Questions of identity and new ethnicities* How to do cultural studies, and an evaluation of recent research methodologies* A fully updated and comprehensive bibliography

is a comprehensive introduction to the British tradition of cultural studies. Turner offers an accessible overview of the central themes that have informed British cultural studies: language, semiotics, Marxism and ideology, individualism, subjectivity and discourse. Beginning with a history of cultural studies, Turner discusses the work of such pioneers as Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, E. P. Thompson, Stuart Hall and the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. He then explores the central theorists and categories of British cultural studies: texts and contexts; audience; everyday life; ideology; politics, gender and race. The third edition of this successful text has been fully revised and updated to include:* How to apply the principles of cultural studies and how to read a text* An overview of recent ethnographic studies* Discussion of anthropological theories of consumption* Questions of identity and new ethnicities* How to do cultural studies, and an evaluation of recent research methodologies* A fully updated and comprehensive bibliography

The areas of publicity, public relations and promotions have been considered to be on the periphery of the media. Yet this revealing book, first published in 2000, demonstrates that they form a fundamental component of the media industries, with the decline of hard news being accompanied by the rise of gossip and celebrity. In addition to making a substantial contribution to our understanding of the cultural function of celebrity, Fame Games outlines how the promotion industry has developed and how celebrity is produced, promoted, and traded within the Australian media. While their analysis will inform academic debates on media practice internationally, the authors have taken the unique step of investigating the workings of the Australian promotion industry from within. Interviews with over 20 publicists, promoters, agents, managers, and magazine editors have provided a wealth of information about the processes through which celebrity in Australia is produced.

The areas of publicity, public relations and promotions have been considered to be on the periphery of the media. Yet this revealing book, first published in 2000, demonstrates that they form a fundamental component of the media industries, with the decline of hard news being accompanied by the rise of gossip and celebrity. In addition to making a substantial contribution to our understanding of the cultural function of celebrity, Fame Games outlines how the promotion industry has developed and how celebrity is produced, promoted, and traded within the Australian media. While their analysis will inform academic debates on media practice internationally, the authors have taken the unique step of investigating the workings of the Australian promotion industry from within. Interviews with over 20 publicists, promoters, agents, managers, and magazine editors have provided a wealth of information about the processes through which celebrity in Australia is produced.

Making it National argues that we need to rethink the way national identity is constructed in Australia today. Graeme Turner takes a series of recent instances - the mythologising of Bond and the larrikin entrepreneurs, the Spycatcher trials, Maralinga and the Bicentenary - showing how popular images of national identity are used to serve specific rather than national interests.'Graeme Turner's writing has a remarkable power to engage its readers with all the immediacy, vividness and drama of our very best journalism, while putting cultural theory to work in new and creative ways.' - Meaghan Morris'Making it National could be to the 1990s what Richard White's Inventing Australia was to the 1980s.' - Tony Bennett, Institute for Cultural Policy Studies, Griffith University

National Fictions is a study of Australian literature and film. It is also a study of Australian culture, viewing the novels and films as products of a specific culture - as narratives with similar structures, functions, forms and meanings. It covers a wide range of texts, offering both close analysis and an account of their place within the system of meanings the book proposes as dominant in Australian culture. The second edition of this influential work includes a new Afterword which traces recent changes in Australian literature and film, examining the growth of women's writing and popular fiction, as well as current trends in Australian cinema. Turner asks whether these developments really mark a shift in the Australian narrative, and whether it is still possible to speak in terms of a national culture.'.a ground-clearing book. a seminal work, setting an agenda for cultural studies beyond the stockyards and croquet lawns of literary criticism.' - David Carter, Australian Literary Studies'As a global syncretist, Turner is without peer.' - Stuart Cunningham, Media Information Australia