John Walliss

James Aston

Representations of apocalyptic themes and motifs in popular culture has a long history, and a number of books and edited collections have examined their influence on popular film and music. Small Screen Revelations shifts the attention to popular television, examining the ways in which contemporary television drama and news draw on both the language and imagery of apocalyptic texts. Essays in the collection examine topics such as the representation of apocalyptic prophecies and prophets in television news and documentaries; how news of natural disasters draws on apocalyptic language to frame the events, and how drama series use, develop and sometimes seek to subvert apocalyptic motifs. Thus, Small Screen Revelations offers a repositioning of the importance of television in representing the apocalypse, while providing a pertinent addition to the examination of how and for what purpose the apocalypse is used in popular culture.

Apocalypse in Contemporary Television

Small Screen Revelations

Beth Johnson

Basil Glynn

Since the 1990s, the screening of sex on American, British and Asian television screens has become increasingly prolific. Considering not only the specificities of selected sexualised images in relation to popular series, this study also concerns itself with the ramifications of TV sex as well as discussing the various techniques that are used by TV producers/programme makers to establish the cultural worth of their texts in series such as Shameless, The Tudors and True Blood. The contributions draw attention to shifting representations of sex on television away from the authoritarian state and patriarchal order, toward a more democratic form of representation. As a significant and under-represented aspect of contemporary television studies, this is the first full-length academic collection to consider the wide-ranging representations of sex in society on contemporary television.

Analyzing Contemporary Representations

Television, Sex and Society

"This collection addresses the Saw franchise--the highest grossing horror series of all time. The films are often derided as "torture porn." This collection addresses the cultural, religious and philosophical themes that run through the films; how the series explores such issues as freewill and determinism; representations of the body; and a Deleuzian perspective to the franchise"--

Essays on Torture Porn and Post-9/11 Horror

To See the Saw Movies

The first of its kind, this study examines the exemplars of hardcore horror--Fred Vogel's August Underground trilogy, Shane Ryan's Amateur Porn Star Killer series and Lucifer Valentine's "vomit gore" films. The author begins with a definition and critical overview of this marginalized subgenre before exploring its key aesthetic convention, the pursuit of realist horror. Production practices, exhibition and marketing strategies are discussed in an in-depth interview with filmmaker Shane Ryan. Audience reception is covered with a focus on fan interaction via the Internet.

Production, Marketing and Consumption

Hardcore Horror Cinema in the 21st Century

Focuses upon contemporary expressions and representations of televisual sex, discussing British, US and Asian television, to engage with ideas of gender, genre and dramatic politics.

James Aston

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