Reveals how African Americans used cable television as a means of empowerment.While previous scholarship on African Americans and the media has largely focused on issues such as stereotypes and program content, Struggles for Equal Voice reveals how African Americans have utilized access to cable television production and viewership as a significant step toward achieving empowerment during the post–Civil Rights and Black Power era. In this pioneering study ...

Many fans loved Fifty Shades of Grey. Many others loved to hate it. E.L. James' trilogy of novels, and the film based on them, created a popular culture sensation, revealing much about a society that is both preoccupied with and scandalized by BDSM eroticism. Some critics argued that the franchise glorified kinky sex and normalized sexual abuse. Others praised it for illuminating consensual sexual practices that have long been marginalized in mainstream media. Yet behind their ero...

This edited volume explores the various and unique motivations driving the rapidly-growing esports industry, which attracts attention and financial investment from major sponsors, athletic organizations, and entertainment values. Contributors draw on a variety of perspectives and theoretical vantage points to examine the multitude of traditions, cultures, expectations, and rituals that different stakeholders factor into their motivation to play and watch esports. Scholars of media studies,...

Films produced in late 1960s and early 1970s America--along with later films focusing on that period--continue to frame our understanding of the counterculture era. The popular and experimental music of the day is central to the counterculture narrative on film, from the utopian Monterey Pop (1968) to the disenchantment of Gimme Shelter (1970). But the musical side of the movement was not monolithic, and a study of contemporary film soundtracks reveals a great deal of com...

Young people have long used popular culture to explore, define and express who they are. For many, popular culture is also a tool of survival. Gone are the days when proscriptive programs were needed for young people to transition to adulthood. Today, youth culture is communicated through information technology, particularly social media, enabling young people to engage the world. Yet, as always, youth culture is often a cause of concern for adults and policy makers.This collection...

We expect sports to be fair and equal--everyone who tries out has a chance to play and everyone who plays hard has a chance to win. But is that really true? In reality, female athletes are paid far less than their male counterparts. Youth sports often cost too much for many families to participate in. African American athletes continue to face discrimination both on and off the field. Adaptive sports are considered to be only for those with disabilities.But there are signs of progr...

Essays debunking the notion that contemporary America is a colorblind society.More than half a century after the civil rights era of the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, American society is often characterized as postracial. In other words, that the country has moved away from prejudice based on skin color and we live in a colorblind society. The reality, however, is the opposite. African Americans continue to face both explicit and latent discriminations in housing, h...

What does the world's favorite sport mean in the United States? Despite the common belief that it is only a women's sport, an immigrants' sport, a small kids' sport--or that hating soccer is very American, the new essays in this volume attest that soccer indeed is a very American and very popular sport, around since the 1940s.The all-new essays address issues concerning the business of the game, the meaning of men's and women's professional, national, high school and youth soccer, ...