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.
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
