selected writings and discussions
Televising 9/11 and It's Aftermath
For most of the four days following 9/11, TV viewers around the
world were mesmerized by unthinkable images. Television brought home
to Americans especially the polarizing effects of the post-Cold War world,
including the backlash of Islamic fundamentalism and the imminent threat
of future terrorist attacks.
Falling Man Mad Men (2009)
Mad Men’s opening credit sequence is full of obvious and hidden clues as to what this series is all about. The program is a stylistic hybrid merging elements of Hollywood movies and television programs from the late 1950s along with TV’s contemporaneous “quality” dramas of today.
Hear Say with Cathy Lewis
Since the first TV screens lit up homes across the country in the mid 1940's, American television has reflected, and sometimes dictated, changes within our society. ODU professor Dr. Gary Edgerton has chronicled the development and cultural relevance of television in American lives in his recently released book, The Columbia History of American Television.
Discussion: Ken Burns
This week we explore the work of Ken Burns in presenting our history on film. Our guest is Gary Edgerton. Airdate: September 8, 2003
Discussion: To Kill a Mockingbird
The National Endowment for the Arts is encouraging all of us to read or re-read Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, that presents the Jim Crow south through the eyes of a young girl. Gary Edgerton (Old Dominion University) and Ted McCosky ( Radford University) explain why the film that came out just two years after the novel is still considered iconic and beloved. Ed Weathers (Virginia Tech) says that the book was the last great work of literature concerned with our legal system.
Discussion: Embedded Warrior Journalists
Journalists armed with videophones and satellite links spent the second Gulf War alongside U.S. soldiers, sending back real-time accounts of combat. The Pentagon opened up the embedded journalist program because news organizations complained that coverage of the 1991 Gulf War was limited to media briefings and carefully screened video footage. Communications professor Gary Edgerton (ODU) says there was more live footage of the first two days of the recent war then in all of Operation Desert Storm, but that doesn't mean television viewers got a complete picture.
Discussion: War on the Big Screen
Recent box-office hits like U-571 and Saving Private Ryan as well as classic films like From Here to Eternity and The Sands of Iwo Jima make it clear that Americans love to watch soldiers fight the Second World War in the movies. But films don't always bother to make sure their history is correct; they distort and change the story for the sake of drama.
JFK, Don Draper, and the New Sentimentality
The semiotic similarities between JFK and Don Draper are unmistakable. Each is tall, handsome, and typically turned out in a custom-made dark suit with a matching skinny tie. Their demeanors are outwardly cool but sexy; old-school handsome if a bit aloof; elegant in style while projecting a kind of ironic intelligence.
