Critical Theory of Mass Media

Contents
Chapter outlines ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Part 1 Then
1 Walter Benjamin’s ‘Work of art’ essay 17
2 Siegfried Kracauer’smass ornament 39
3 Theodor Adorno and the culture industry 62
4 Marshall McLuhan’s understanding of the media 85
5 Guy Debord’sSociety of the Spectacle 107
Part 2 Now
Introduction to Part 2 131
6 Theculture of celebrity 133
7 Banality TV: the democratization of celebrity 155
8 The politics of banality: theob-scene as the mis-en-scène 177
Conclusion 198
Notes 215
Bibliography 223
Index 235