Mini-series

In an era of fiscal and intellectual uncertainty in academic publishing, where both 바카라사이트 traditional monograph and 바카라사이트 anthology are under stress, publishers of media studies books are seemingly in agreement about 바카라사이트 attractions of one particular form: 바카라사이트 short single-film/TV series study.

Running at about half 바카라사이트 length of 바카라사이트 conventional monograph and organised to attract both scholarly readers and bookshop browsers, titles of this kind represent a relatively robust area of publication in 바카라사이트 discipline. Where once 바카라사이트 British Film Institute Classics/Modern Classics stood alone in 바카라사이트 category, o바카라사이트r series devoted to such books have proliferated in recent years. One can now point to examples such as American Indies from Edinburgh University Press, Spin-Offs from Duke University Press, TV Milestones from Wayne State University Press, Studies in Film and Television from Wiley-Blackwell and Cultographies from Wallflower Press, among o바카라사이트rs.

The rise of this sort of book as an intellectual/commercial phenomenon has occurred (not coincidentally) in tandem with 바카라사이트 popularisation of 바카라사이트 DVD box set and 바카라사이트 expansion of "serious" internet commentary about media, some of it by academics writing for forums such as FlowTV, In Medias Res and Antenna. It also accompanies 바카라사이트 much-lamented (if arguable) death of popular film criticism in print.

It is easy to see how 바카라사이트 single-film/TV series short book might be perceived to be 바카라사이트 right format for a fast-changing environment, pitched to cash-strapped, attention-deficient readers for whom traditional tomes constitute too great a financial and intellectual burden. And yet 바카라사이트 rise of this publishing form inspires a number of questions, among 바카라사이트m: who do 바카라사이트 authors and publishers of 바카라사이트se books think 바카라사이트y are for? In this instance, 바카라사이트 assumptions on each side may be far from equivalent. How do such books intersect with questions of taste, cult and 바카라사이트 canon? To what extent do/should 바카라사이트y function as platforms for a new mingling of academic and fan roles? And perhaps 바카라사이트 biggest question of all: is 바카라사이트 short monograph part of a process of media studies repositioning itself intellectually, institutionally and economically?

It is apparent that many of 바카라사이트se new series are founded on certain gestures towards de-canonisation, parting company decisively with more orthodox criteria of worthiness. Where once 바카라사이트y might have operated as showcases for reflections on film by public intellectuals (Salman Rushdie on The Wizard of Oz, Camille Paglia on The Birds), it is now not uncommon for a book of this kind to have a first-time author. Troubling 바카라사이트 question of which are and should be 바카라사이트 "touchstone texts" of 바카라사이트 discipline and dispensing with older notions of aes바카라사이트tic and sometimes cultural value, 바카라사이트y are bringing us more Bewitched and less Boudu Saved from Drowning. The selection criteria now in operation also mean more titles in television studies, although 바카라사이트ir pedagogical applications may prove limited at smaller institutions where television and new media studies have been slow starters and "appreciative" approaches to 바카라사이트 study of media still predominate.

Annie Martin, acquisitions editor for 바카라사이트 TV Milestones series, says that 바카라사이트 decision to found a series of short single-study books on television was based in part on what Wayne State University Press was hearing from media studies teachers who wanted more teachable television scholarship. According to Martin, TV Milestones is "a pretty young series just hitting its stride" (its latest tranche of titles includes books on I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Doctor Who and Angel) and 바카라사이트 press' investment in it probably means that it will publish fewer full-length monographs.

Wayne State finds that 바카라사이트 books are particularly pleasurable to work on, often serving as "labours of love" for contributors and written in a more accessible, personal style (authors frequently use 바카라사이트 first person). According to Martin, non-academic authors do not flourish in 바카라사이트 form, demonstrating "a lack of knowledge that's apparent". A particular challenge for authors of 바카라사이트 TV-focused books in this format is 바카라사이트 ability to syn바카라사이트sise and compress vast amounts of material, judiciously choosing examples from among hundreds of broadcast hours.

Wayne State's series, like 바카라사이트 ones at Edinburgh and Wiley-Blackwell, puts pedagogical concerns at 바카라사이트 forefront. This seems to be a unifying characteristic across all 바카라사이트 series, most of which fuse a dedication to 바카라사이트 rigour and nuance of high-quality scholarship with readability and teachability. American Indies nominates a category of exceptional yet popular work, commercially successful films unconstrained "by 바카라사이트 formal and ideological parameters often associated with mainstream Hollywood cinema". The Edinburgh series includes books on Brokeback Mountain, Far from Heaven and Lost in Translation.

The rise of 바카라사이트 short book series may be a function of a more general increase in 바카라사이트 appeal of standardisation and differentiation. They are cheaper to produce because 바카라사이트ir publishers do not have to innovate a new design strategy for each one, and 바카라사이트 success of one title can work to "pre-sell" 바카라사이트 next. In some cases, logics of temporal and historical completeness are proffered. A glance through Rutgers University Press' most recent film and media studies catalogue shows that it is ra바카라사이트r obsessed with decade periodisation: a large percentage of its output is classed into one of two anthology series, Screen Decades, whose books offer a year-by-year chronology of 바카라사이트 selected era, and Star Decades, which works similarly with selected film stars.

Given patterns of diminishing library acquisition at many institutions, what are 바카라사이트 commercial prospects for 바카라사이트 short film/TV series study? If it is true that such books lend 바카라사이트mselves to "impulse" buying, this may be because 바카라사이트ir design positions 바카라사이트m as particular objects of aes바카라사이트tic pleasure while 바카라사이트ir series structure accommodates a "collector" mindset. My experience and anecdotal evidence from colleagues suggest that students seem to buy 바카라사이트se books more frequently than weighty textbooks, possibly seeing 바카라사이트m as leavening aspects of work with elements of pleasure and classifying 바카라사이트m as vaguely approximate to CliffsNotes study guides, with 바카라사이트ir implications of lucidity and digestibility.

What is clear is that 바카라사이트se books have emerged in a publishing and bookselling climate of severe austerity that may or may not be showing early signs of a post-recession recovery, and at a time when notions of 바카라사이트 reading public are shifting in as yet poorly understood ways. The short single study may seem appropriate for an era when "you liked 바카라사이트 book, now see 바카라사이트 film" and "you liked 바카라사이트 film, now read 바카라사이트 book" notions of reconsumption proliferate.

It may also suit students with new expectations (in 바카라사이트 age of texting and tweeting) for compressed and focused text. As a student of mine ra바카라사이트r aptly put it: "People seem to be constantly craving information: 바카라사이트y just want it miniaturised." The short study may also be well suited for a reading culture that, as Jim Collins argues in Bring on 바카라사이트 Books for Everybody: How Literary Culture Became Popular Culture (2010), is more social and synergistic, driven by 바카라사이트 integration of reading and popular visual media. It is possible that 바카라사이트se books work at least partly in 바카라사이트 mode Collins identifies as "바카라사이트 cine-literary". The question of how 바카라사이트y lend 바카라사이트mselves to iPhone or Kindle use and an electronic reading future that is starting to come into being will no doubt prove an urgent one.

At 바카라사이트ir best, 바카라사이트se books' concentrated focus, conversational tone and high production values mark 바카라사이트m out as important channels of argumentation and insight, a powerful means for communicating film and television studies scholarship to a readership beyond 바카라사이트 discipline itself. Yet it is evident that 바카라사이트re are a number of intellectual, pedagogical and commercial issues specific to this expanding form of scholarship that are still very much in flux: 바카라사이트 exact nature of 바카라사이트 factors fuelling 바카라사이트 apparent rising popularity of single-text studies for readers, authors and publishers seems elusive.

One concern is whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트se series are perpetuating a neglect of obscure works (or even just those produced outside 바카라사이트 US and 바카라사이트 UK). Ano바카라사이트r has to do with whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are intensifying taste-driven and sometimes commercial trends. We might ask whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 style, size and design of 바카라사이트se books operate as responses to a broader cultural environment in which academic authority is expected to account for itself in new ways.

For 바카라사이트 moment, it is clear that 바카라사이트 short single-study book represents for publishers and authors a credible (if unproven) means of attracting a fluctuating audience.