Religion and Reality TV

Faith in Late Capitalism
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-1-138-68127-9
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 232 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 520 g

Why is reality television flourishing in today's expanding media market? Religion and Reality TV: Faith in Late Capitalism argues that the reality genre offers answers to many of life's urgent questions: Why am I important? What gives my life meaning? How do I present my best self to the world? Case studies address these questions by examining religious representations through late capitalist lenses, including the maintenance of the self, the commodification of the sacred, and the performance of authenticity. The book's fourteen essays explore why religious themes proliferate in reality TV, audiences' fascination with "lived religion," and the economics that make religion and reality TV a successful pairing. Chapters also consider the role of race, gender, and religion in the production and reception of programming.

Religion and Reality TV provides a framework for understanding the intersection of celebrity, media attention, beliefs, and values. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of religion and media studies, communication, American studies, and popular culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Einstein, Mara

Madden, Katherine

Winston, Diane

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

Part I: Maintenance of the self

- Flaunting Christian patriarchy in the 21st century: Todd Chrisley’s straight guy with the queer eye

Diane Winston

- Making over body and soul: gender, selfhood, and parables of spiritual neoliberalism on Makeover TV

Brenda R. Weber

- Black female sexual agency and racialized holy sex in black Christian reality TV shows

Monique Moultrie

Part II: The performance of authenticity

- "This is just an incredible God thing": monetized domesticity in bottom-up media

Katherine Madden

- "The renovation starts now!": rite-of-passage reality television

Erica Hurwitz Andrus

- When the most popular format reaches the most atypical country: reality TV and religion in Israel

Yoel Cohen and Amir Hetsroni

- All-American cancellation: spectacle and neoliberal performativity in All-American Muslim

Melinda Q. Brennan

Part III: Niche markets

- Sister Wives: the Protestantization of Mormon polygamy

Myev Rees

- Paranormal reality television: audience engagement with mediums and spirit communication

Annette Hill

- Conjuring spirits in a neoliberal era: ghost reality television, Third Wave spiritual warfare, and haunting pasts

Sean McCloud

- Amish reality and reality TV "Amishness": agonism in the cultural marketplace

Stewart M. Hoover

Part IV: Commodification of the sacred

- Praying for reality: the invisible hand in Downey and Burnett's Answered Prayers

Sharon Lauricella

- "The search for a young Imam begins now": Imam Muda and civilizational Islam in Malaysia

Andrea Stanton

- Preachers of Oxygen: franchising faith on reality TV

Mara Einstein

Über Autor(innen)

Mara Einstein has worked as an executive at NBC, MTV Networks, and at major advertising agencies. She is Professor of Media Studies at Queens College, CUNY, USA and Director of the Masters program in Media and Social Justice.

Katherine Madden teaches media studies at Jesuit High School in Sacramento, California, USA.

Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, USA.