Sut Jhally

Cultural historian Dave Zirin, whose influential blog and bestselling books have offered searing insights into the politics of American sports, examines the myriad ways sports culture has worked both to reproduce and challenge the wider culture's dominant ideas about race and racial difference. Interviewed by Communication scholar Sut Jhally, whose own work has sought to clarify the relationship between popular culture and racial attitudes, Zirin's...

Over the past three decades, obesity rates in the US have more than doubled for children and tripled for adolescents ́ and a startling 70% of adults are now obese or overweight. The result has been a widening epidemic of obesity-related health problems, including coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes. While discussions about this spiraling health crisis have tended to focus on the need for more exercise and individual...

For years, there has been widespread speculation, but very little consensus, about the relationship between violent video games and violence in the real world. Joystick Warriors provides the clearest account yet of the latest research on this issue. Drawing on the insights of media scholars, military analysts, combat veterans, and gamers themselves, the film trains its sights on the wildly popular genre of first-person shooter games, exploring how...

In this recently discovered, newly restored video of one of Stuart Hall’s most famous lectures, Hall speaks with dazzling precision about the responsibilities of intellectuals and educators in the face of undemocratic structures of power, injustice, racism, and inequality, and lays out in the clearest possible terms a theoretical framework for dissecting and resisting authoritarian thinking without lapsing into reductive ideological simplifications....

The line between sexual consent and sexual coercion is not always as clear as it seems -- and according to Harry Brod, this is exactly why we should approach our sexual interactions with great care. Brod, a professor of philosophy and leader in the pro-feminist men's movement, offers a unique take on the problem of sexual assault, one that complicates the issue even as it clarifies the bottom-line principle that consent must always be explicitly granted,...

In this powerful new film based on his bestselling book, sociologist Michael Kimmel maps the troubling social world where boys become men -- a new stage of development he calls "Guyland." Arguing that the traditional adult signposts and cultural signals that once helped boys navigate their way to manhood are no longer clear, Kimmel provides an astonishing glimpse into a world where more and more young men are trying desperately to prove their masculinity...

Behind the Screens explores the trend toward "hypercommercialism" in Hollywood film: product placement, tie-ins, merchandising, and cross-promotions. The film mixes clips from popular Hollywood films with expert commentary to show how movies have become vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners. Featuring Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jeremy Pikser; Mark Crispin Miller; Susan Douglas; Robert McChesney,...

Gerbner urges us to think about the psychological, political, social, and developmental consequences of growing up and living within a cultural environment of pervasive, ritualized violent images.

Recovering Bodies features college students on the subject of eating disorders. They share their stories and experiences about the wide range of pressures that can lead to disordered eating, while providing valuable personal insights into the variety of psychological and physical symptoms involved. Also features expert commentary from professionals, and provides invaluable and empowering information about successful recovery and healing strategies....

The late George Gerbner explains how the universal story-telling function of human societies has been colonized by corporate media.