Sharon R. Mazzarella – författare

At Play presents a collection of work illustrating the wide scope of intellectual dialogue surrounding digital games, as they have become a focal point for the media in recent years and have increasingly become an area of study in academia. Contributors to this special issue represent an international landscape, and include founders of the game studies area, as well as new researchers who are already infl uencing the fi eld. All of the articles are situated within important areas of communication theory and research, covering such topics as how games impact media economics and cross-media influence on the development of a new medium; the promise and challenges of games as documentary media; and the political subtext in games as it relates to the emergence of a new and ever more important form of persuasive interactive media. The range of both theoretical grounding and method of approach offered in this special

Furthering the dialogue about the growing power of commercialization and consumerism from a variety of perspectives and methodologies, this special issue contains a meticulously-researched account of the early battles waged over advertising regulation. It also includes articles examining the phenomenon of home shopping channels to determine how issues of social class are incorporated into their sales discourse, and showing how, since the 1970s, the discourse of ads in Hong Kong have changed from a celebration of more "traditional" Chinese values to a celebration of more "Western," consumer values. This issue also provides a focus on a subject often missing from studies of advertising and consumer culture--the advertising creatives themselves.

In light of current and projected demographic changes in the U.S., this book examines the attention paid to Latina/o youth from mainstream media conglomerates and the subsequent impact of this attention. In-depth interviews conducted within a family setting provide a rare glimpse into respondents’ media consumption patterns and process of reception, and explain the ways in which the media are woven into their daily lives. The book critiques the tendency of mainstream media to reify and contain a Latina/o identity that is then sold back to youth in ways that limit Latino/a agency. Throughout the interviews, young people articulate a hybrid identity highlighting their bicultural experiences. Listening to Latina/o Youth ultimately recommends opening up the possibilities of representation to encourage the acceptance of new voices that challenge the current modes of media production.

Riot grrrls, punk feminists best known for their girl power activism and message, used punk ideologies and the literacy practice of zine-ing to create radical feminist sites of resistance. In what ways did zines document feminism and activism of the 1990s? How did riot grrrls use punk ideologies to participate in DIY sites? In Writing a Riot: Riot Grrl Zines and Feminist Rhetorics, Buchanan argues that zines are a form of literacy participation used to document personal, social, and political values within punk. She examines zine studies as an academic field, how riot grrrls used zines to promote punk feminism, and the ways riot grrrl zines dealt with social justice issues of rape and race. Writing a Riot is the first full-length book that examines riot grrrl zines and their role in documenting feminist history.“Focusing on the creation and circulation of riot grrrl zines in the 1990s, which she interprets as a complex literacy practice, Rebekah J. Buchanan adds substantially to the burgeoning literature on the challenge of narrating the history of punk feminisms. By building on her own experiences in zine-ing and reading with care and appreciation a diverse array of zines created during the period, she makes a strong case for the significance of such zines as evidence of girls’ feminism and activist efforts to understand the conditions of their everyday lives.” Janice Radway, Walter Dill Scott Professor of Communication Studies; Director, Gender Studies; Professor, American Studies, Northwestern University.

Adolescents and emerging adults today spend an estimated seven hours daily attending to media. The media teens attend to commonly present relationships between men and women as a "game" or "competition" in which women seduce through their physical appearance and the masculinity of men is defined through sexual conquest. A growing body of research suggests that viewing this sexualized media may contribute to adolescents’ and emerging adults’ understanding of and behaviors around romantic and sexual relationships. Using social cognitive theory of gender development, scripting theory, and heterosexual script theory as a framework, Scripting Adolescent Romance presents methods and analyses of data from in-depth interviews with 16 high school and young college students, and focus groups with over 100 individuals in this age group. Findings provide a rarely seen view inside youths’ private spaces—their bedrooms and their social media spaces. In often highly-personal conversations, youth provide in-depth information about how they understand and navigate virginity, romantic relationships, sexual situations, and interpersonal violence. Their discussions of "Netflix and chill," Facebook stalking, and the scorecard script illuminate aspects of romance and sex that may be uniquely characteristic of today’s young people. This book is a must-read for parents of adolescents, and promises to be an enjoyable, insightful text for classes about media effects, adolescent development, gender roles, and sexual health.

Since the first book was signed almost ten years ago, the Mediated Youth series has published nearly two dozen volumes, with more in process or production. This milestone provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on how the series has evolved, how it has contributed to the field, and in which direction(s) it is moving.The chapters reprinted in this volume have been selected to showcase the variety and diversity of topics published in the series. Grounded in cultural studies, they approachmediated youth through the lenses of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, and technology. As a whole, they paint a multi-faceted, complex, and nuanced picture of the relationship between youth and media today, and demonstrate that there is no one, singular «youth.» They remind us of the rich diversity of life experiences and media involvements of youth from a range of backgrounds, cultures, and countries.These chapters serve not only as a retrospective collection of scholarship published in Peter Lang’s Mediated Youth book series, but also as a roadmap to the diversity of scholarship characterizing the field of youth media studies during these years.

Since the first book was signed almost ten years ago, the Mediated Youth series has published nearly two dozen volumes, with more in process or production. This milestone provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on how the series has evolved, how it has contributed to the field, and in which direction(s) it is moving.The chapters reprinted in this volume have been selected to showcase the variety and diversity of topics published in the series. Grounded in cultural studies, they approachmediated youth through the lenses of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, and technology. As a whole, they paint a multi-faceted, complex, and nuanced picture of the relationship between youth and media today, and demonstrate that there is no one, singular «youth.» They remind us of the rich diversity of life experiences and media involvements of youth from a range of backgrounds, cultures, and countries.These chapters serve not only as a retrospective collection of scholarship published in Peter Lang’s Mediated Youth book series, but also as a roadmap to the diversity of scholarship characterizing the field of youth media studies during these years.

The revised edition of 20 Questions about Youth and the Media is an updated and comprehensive guide to today’s most compelling issues in the study of children, tweens, teens and the media. The editors bring together leading experts to answer the kinds of questions an undergraduate student might ask about the relationship between young people and media. In so doing, the book addresses a range of media, from cartoons to the Internet, from advertising to popular music, and from mobile phones to educational television. The diverse array of topics include government regulation, race and gender, effects (both prosocial and risky), kids’ use of digital media, and the commercialization of youth culture. This book is designed with the undergraduate youth/children and media classroom in mind, and features accessible writing and end-of-chapter discussion questions and exercises.

The Culture of Mean is the first book-length feminist critical exploration of representations of youth bullying in media. Bringing into conversation scholarship on feminism, media, new communication technologies, surveillance, gender, race, sexuality, and class, Emily D. Ryalls critically examines the explosion of discourse about youth bullying that has occurred in the United States during the last two decades. Countering the monolithic and extreme cultural reaction to narratives about bullying, Ryalls argues that, while it seems common sense to view bullying as always wrong and dangerous, not all aggression is bullying and it is problematic to assume so, because it becomes very difficult to differentiate between healthy conflict and unhealthy (potentially violent) torment. Moreover, since the label "bullying" often does not differentiate between teasing, conflict, sexual harassment, and violence, increasingly the most common way to deal with young people accused of bullying is to criminalize their actions. Through an analysis of books, film, television, and journalistic accounts of bullying, The Culture of Mean shows how constructions of bullying in popular culture create an overly simplistic binary of good and bad people. This process individualizes the problem of bullying and disallows a more complex understanding of the structural issues at work by suggesting that putting an end to bullying simply requires incarcerating those evil teens who are prone to bullying behaviors. This critical perspective of bullying will be of interest to scholars and students interested in the fields of girls’ studies, cultural studies, communication, education, sociology, and media studies, as well as parents of school-aged children.

The Culture of Mean is the first book-length feminist critical exploration of representations of youth bullying in media. Bringing into conversation scholarship on feminism, media, new communication technologies, surveillance, gender, race, sexuality, and class, Emily D. Ryalls critically examines the explosion of discourse about youth bullying that has occurred in the United States during the last two decades. Countering the monolithic and extreme cultural reaction to narratives about bullying, Ryalls argues that, while it seems common sense to view bullying as always wrong and dangerous, not all aggression is bullying and it is problematic to assume so, because it becomes very difficult to differentiate between healthy conflict and unhealthy (potentially violent) torment. Moreover, since the label "bullying" often does not differentiate between teasing, conflict, sexual harassment, and violence, increasingly the most common way to deal with young people accused of bullying is to criminalize their actions. Through an analysis of books, film, television, and journalistic accounts of bullying, The Culture of Mean shows how constructions of bullying in popular culture create an overly simplistic binary of good and bad people. This process individualizes the problem of bullying and disallows a more complex understanding of the structural issues at work by suggesting that putting an end to bullying simply requires incarcerating those evil teens who are prone to bullying behaviors. This critical perspective of bullying will be of interest to scholars and students interested in the fields of girls’ studies, cultural studies, communication, education, sociology, and media studies, as well as parents of school-aged children.

Adolescents and emerging adults today spend an estimated seven hours daily attending to media. The media teens attend to commonly present relationships between men and women as a "game" or "competition" in which women seduce through their physical appearance and the masculinity of men is defined through sexual conquest. A growing body of research suggests that viewing this sexualized media may contribute to adolescents’ and emerging adults’ understanding of and behaviors around romantic and sexual relationships. Using social cognitive theory of gender development, scripting theory, and heterosexual script theory as a framework, Scripting Adolescent Romance presents methods and analyses of data from in-depth interviews with 16 high school and young college students, and focus groups with over 100 individuals in this age group. Findings provide a rarely seen view inside youths’ private spaces—their bedrooms and their social media spaces. In often highly-personal conversations, youth provide in-depth information about how they understand and navigate virginity, romantic relationships, sexual situations, and interpersonal violence. Their discussions of "Netflix and chill," Facebook stalking, and the scorecard script illuminate aspects of romance and sex that may be uniquely characteristic of today’s young people. This book is a must-read for parents of adolescents, and promises to be an enjoyable, insightful text for classes about media effects, adolescent development, gender roles, and sexual health.

Riot grrrls, punk feminists best known for their girl power activism and message, used punk ideologies and the literacy practice of zine-ing to create radical feminist sites of resistance. In what ways did zines document feminism and activism of the 1990s? How did riot grrrls use punk ideologies to participate in DIY sites? In Writing a Riot: Riot Grrl Zines and Feminist Rhetorics, Buchanan argues that zines are a form of literacy participation used to document personal, social, and political values within punk. She examines zine studies as an academic field, how riot grrrls used zines to promote punk feminism, and the ways riot grrrl zines dealt with social justice issues of rape and race. Writing a Riot is the first full-length book that examines riot grrrl zines and their role in documenting feminist history.“Focusing on the creation and circulation of riot grrrl zines in the 1990s, which she interprets as a complex literacy practice, Rebekah J. Buchanan adds substantially to the burgeoning literature on the challenge of narrating the history of punk feminisms. By building on her own experiences in zine-ing and reading with care and appreciation a diverse array of zines created during the period, she makes a strong case for the significance of such zines as evidence of girls’ feminism and activist efforts to understand the conditions of their everyday lives.” Janice Radway, Walter Dill Scott Professor of Communication Studies; Director, Gender Studies; Professor, American Studies, Northwestern University.

KakaoTalk and Facebook: Korean American Youth Constructing Hybrid Identities explores the role smartphones play in the lives of Korean American youth as they explore their identities and navigate between fitting into their host society and their Korean heritage. Employing multiple methodologies, this book gives voice to the youth’s personal experiences, identity struggles, and creative digital media practices. While similar in many aspects to other American youth, they also differ greatly in the central roles that their smartphones’ use plays in maintaining their mastery of the Korean language, connecting to Korean pop culture, and cultivating their social networks with other co-ethnic peers and homeland relatives and friends. The results of this study challenge traditional assumptions about assimilation of second generation immigrants into a host society and suggest that digital technologies facilitate the process of segmented assimilation, according to which ethnic identities continue to play a central role in the identity of children of immigrants. KakaoTalk and Facebook will be of great interest to scholars and educators of media and youth and those exploring how digital media have changed the nature of immigration processes in dramatic ways.

Owing to the proliferation of screens and networked culture, young fans have moved beyond being simply media consumers. Today they are content interpreters and creators—living in a remix culture, reconstructing transmedia narratives, and interacting with culture industries. Young fans’ relationship to technology has transformed their discourses, interpersonal relationships, and the way they participate in communities. This book delves into these issues, looking at social and cultural approaches to human development to study the identities and activities of fan communities among young people. The book explores communities related to Harry Potter, One Direction, Fortnite, Warhammer, TikTok, and television programs. Drawing on an ethnographic approach and big data analysis, Adolescent Fans demonstrates how digital technology has changed not only fan behavior, but also research practices used to understand what it means to be a young fan.

Owing to the proliferation of screens and networked culture, young fans have moved beyond being simply media consumers. Today they are content interpreters and creators—living in a remix culture, reconstructing transmedia narratives, and interacting with culture industries. Young fans’ relationship to technology has transformed their discourses, interpersonal relationships, and the way they participate in communities. This book delves into these issues, looking at social and cultural approaches to human development to study the identities and activities of fan communities among young people. The book explores communities related to Harry Potter, One Direction, Fortnite, Warhammer, TikTok, and television programs. Drawing on an ethnographic approach and big data analysis, Adolescent Fans demonstrates how digital technology has changed not only fan behavior, but also research practices used to understand what it means to be a young fan.

The chapters’ in-depth analyses of topics including LEGO films, marketing tactics, play sets, novelizations, and fans offer compelling insights relevant to those interested in the LEGO brand and broader trends in the children’s popular culture market alike.