Zizek and the Media

Slavoj Zizek reaches the parts of the media that other theorists
cannot. With sources ranging from Thomas Aquinas to Quentin
Tarantino and Desperate Housewives to Dostoyevsky, Zizek mixes high
theory with low culture more engagingly than any other thinker
alive today. His prolific output includes such media friendly
content as a TV series (The Pervert's Guide to Cinema) a
documentary movie (Zizek!) and a wealth of YouTube clips. A
celebrity academic, he walks the media talk.

Zizek and the Media provides a systematic and
approachable introduction to the main concepts and themes of
Zizek's work, and their particular implications for the study of
the media. The book:

• Describes the radical nature of Zizek's media politics

• Uses Zizekian insights to expose the profound intellectual
  limitations of conventional approaches to the media

• Explores the psychoanalytical and philosophical roots of
  Zizek's work

• Provides the reader with Zizekian tools to uncover the hidden
  ideologies of everyday media content;

Explains the ultimate seriousness that underlies his numerous
jokes.

As likely to discuss Homer's Springfield as Ithaca, Zizek is
shown to be the ideal guide for today's mediascape.

Autorentext
Paul A. Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in Communications Theory at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds

Zusammenfassung
Slavoj Zizek reaches the parts of the media that other theorists cannot. With sources ranging from Thomas Aquinas to Quentin Tarantino and Desperate Housewives to Dostoyevsky, Zizek mixes high theory with low culture more engagingly than any other thinker alive today. His prolific output includes such media friendly content as a TV series (The Pervert's Guide to Cinema) a documentary movie (Zizek!) and a wealth of YouTube clips. A celebrity academic, he walks the media talk. Zizek and the Media provides a systematic and approachable introduction to the main concepts and themes of Zizek's work, and their particular implications for the study of the media. The book:

• Describes the radical nature of Zizek's media politics
• Uses Zizekian insights to expose the profound intellectual limitations of conventional approaches to the media
• Explores the psychoanalytical and philosophical roots of Zizek's work
• Provides the reader with Zizekian tools to uncover the hidden ideologies of everyday media content;
  Explains the ultimate seriousness that underlies his numerous jokes.
  As likely to discuss Homer's Springfield as Ithaca, Zizek is shown to be the ideal guide for today's mediascape.

Inhalt

Preface: The Dog's Bollocks . . . at the Media Dinner
Party viii

Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction: 'The Marx Brother', 'The Elvis
of Cultural Theory', and Other Media Cliches 1

1 The Mediated Imp of the Perverse 6

2 ?i?ek's Tickling Shtick 34

3 Big (Br)Other: Psychoanalysing the Media 63

4 Understanding Media: The Sublime Objectification of Ideology
91

5 The Media's Violence 120

6 The Joker's Little Shop of Ideological Horrors 149

Conclusion: Don't Just Do It: Negative Dialectics in the
Age of Nike 176

Notes 183

Bibliography 189

Index 202