Aca-Media

As we head into this weird and dangerous fall, we bring you one of the most important episodes of Aca-Media ever: a panel on organizing the academic workplace. How do we collectively organize within and outside of unions for improvements in labor conditions, compensation, and faculty governance? What tactics should we pursuing, and what difficulties should we expect? With Yulia Gilich, Rebecca Gordon, Chris Robé, Jamie Ann Rogers, and Ben Stork.

A special series on how we encounter, engage with, and teach Television Studies in the wake of the global pandemic.

A special series on how we encounter, engage with, and teach Television Studies in the wake of the global pandemic.

A special five-part series on how we encounter, engage with, and teach Television Studies in the wake of the global pandemic.

A special five-part series on how we encounter, engage with, and teach Television Studies in the wake of the global pandemic.

What are the primary affects around and through TV consumption? How has the pandemic (and the protests following the murder of George Floyd) affected the ways in which we consume and critique television? What are our embodied viewing experiences as audiences trapped at home, and how might these experiences speak to new ways of perceiving and understanding TV? What can we learn from existing fan cultures about spectatorial engagement in this time? How has the pandemic affected our collective notions of comfort and discomfort, and how does this shake out across modes of distribution, genre, and style? Guest Scholars: Hollis Griffin, Suzanne Scott, Karen Tongson, Kristen Warner; Host: Hunter Hargraves NOTE: Some episodes of this series were recorded before the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020—when a white police officer pressed his knee to Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while Floyd struggled for his life—and before the protests that broke out around the country and the world condemning that despicable murder and, more broadly, police brutality and systemic racial injustice. Racism too is a pandemic—one that intersects with the COVID-19 pandemic, with African Americans at higher risk of the Coronavirus because of centuries of health, employment, and social disparities. The horrific inequalities in the economic and criminal "justice" systems—and, of course, in the media—highlight how racism itself poses an ongoing public health crisis. In the wake of this murder—along with the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others—we have thus broadened the podcast conversations to include discussion of television's relation to racism, injustice, oppressive policing and policies (and the protests against these) together with discussion of television's relation to COVID-19, as considering these pandemics together is, we believe, critical to understanding the state of our world and the media today.

A special five-part series on how we encounter, engage with, and teach Television Studies in the wake of the global pandemic.

A special five-part series on how we encounter, engage with, and teach Television Studies in the wake of the global pandemic.

The start of something(s) new! Aca-Media continues remote broadcasting and introduces two new series for your listening – and streaming? – pleasure. First is a sneak peek of “Talking Television in a Pandemic,” a new series launching right here on Aca-Media, where television scholars Hunter Hargraves, Lynne Joyrich, and Brandy Monk-Payton discuss what it means to watch TV during the pandemic. Touching on everything from epistemology to pedagogy, this series will launch right here in your podcast feed, so don’t miss it! And not to be outdone, Chris begins an exciting new segment of Aca-Media and starts interviewing this year’s SCMS Award Winners, giving them a chance to claim the spotlight! This time we talk with Alisa Lebow, Patrick Brown, and Eliza Steinbock about their innovative and exciting scholarship and media projects.

SCMS is cancelled but the content rolls on! This episode of Aca-Media brings you a fascinating interview with Paul Taberham about animation and the avant-garde, including some great tips for teaching difficult media. Then Ryn Marchese discusses the amazing work being done at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Finally, Chris and Michael banter about how they are spending their self-isolation.

In the depths of winter, we take you to warm, sunny Italy! Our intrepid host Chris Becker, apparently unsure how to order “pizza” in Italian, nonetheless bravely heads to Matera in order to talk with documentarians Chiara Ferrari and Quinn Winchell about cultural tourism in Matera (the setting for films from James Bond to Passion of the Christ). We then re-air the 2014 Fieldnotes segment with influential film scholar Thomas Elsaesser, who passed away in December, 2019. Finally, Michael and Chris banter about the year in media and politics, including the role of universities in social justice activism.

We move into fall with two fantastic interviews for you. First, Elizabeth Ellcessor talks with Margaret Price about disability and accessibility in academia, paying special attention to academic careers and the experiences of disabled faculty. We then talk with Catherine Grant in order to revisit the launch of [in]Transition five years on, discussing the state of videographic criticism as well as experiments with open access and peer review. Finally, Chris and Michael banter about “The Good Class,” Chris’s course (mentioned by THE Ted Danson!) on NBC’s "The Good Place."

Aca-Media is turning 50! For our fiftieth episode, we talk with past SCMS president Pam Wojcik about the past and future of the organization. Then we bring you an interview with Usha Iyer about Bollywood, screen dance studies, “unwarping the non-western,” and much, much more—it’s a fascinating and wide-ranging interview. Finally, Chris and Michael banter about Chris’ class on “The Good Place” and Michael’s take on “Russian Doll.” Give it a listen: it will make you a better person!

Both segments featured in this episode reference “how the sausage gets made,” so prepare to learn a lot. We first hear from Juan Llamas-Rodriguez about how a seminar paper becomes a Journal of Cinema and Media Studies article, as well as how the Mexico-based theater chain Cinépolis has spread a luxury cinema model around the globe. Then Nedda Ahmed and Chris Cagle talk with Joel Neville Anderson about the financial complexities behind the Kanopy streaming service and the importance of fostering lines of communication between instructors and librarians. Chris and Michael wrap it all up with help from Scout the Wonder Dog, who is an expert in how the sausage gets eaten.

Chris and Michael flash back to SCMS Seattle, where a group of scholars sat down to talk about TV’s global future and conferencegoers crossed paths with Emerald City Comic-Con. First up, a roundtable featuring Derek Kompare, Catherine Johnson, Petr Szczepanik, Bärbel Goebel Stolz, and Liz Evans chatting about online streaming and how it might affect commercial and public service broadcasting as technology and audiences forge ahead. Following that, Chris gets a first-hand report on the intertwined conference and comic-con experience from Paul Booth and Matt Hills. Finally, make sure you check out the links for the episode and the photos tucked in there, where you’ll see a whole new concept of getting dressed up for a conference presentation.