Communicating Unreality, Volume 1

Front Cover
SAGE, 2000 - Social Science - 441 pages

Reviewing the images and meanings of the mass-mediated world, Gabriel Weimann examines the symbolic environment, where reality and fiction are almost inseparable. Through discussion of mass-mediated images of people, cultures, war, love, sex, death, community, and identity, he demonstrates that there is often a large gap between reality and the reconstruction of "realities" as communicated by the mass media.

 

Contents

Chapter 1 Living in a Mediated World
3
Chapter 2 The Debate Over Media Effects
15
Chapter 3 Cultivation and Mainstreaming
39
Chapter 4 The Psychology of Cultivation
59
Part II Mediated Realities
77
Chapter 5 The Mean and Scary World
79
Chapter 6 Sex and Sexuality
123
Chapter 7 Death and Suicide
167
Chapter 10 Images o f America
243
Chapter 11 The Unreal War
279
Part III Cord usions
321
Virtual or Real?
323
Chapter 13 Communicating Unreality
359
References
391
Author Index
427
Subject Index
437

Chapter 8 The World According to M T V
191
Chapter 9 Portrayal of Groups
213
About the Author
441
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About the author (2000)

Gabriel Weimann is a Full Professor of Communication at the Department of Communication at Haifa University, Israel. His research interests include the study of media effects, political campaigns, persuasion and influence, media and public opinion, modern terrorism and the mass media. He published six books: Communicating Unreality (Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2000); The Influentials: People Who Influence People (State University of New York Press, 1995); The Theater of Terror (New York: Longman, 1994); Hate on Trial (Toronto: Mosaic, 1986); and The Singaporean Enigma (Jerusalem: Tzivonim, 2001) and Terror On the Internet (Washington, DC: USIP Press, 2007). His papers and research reports, more than 120 publications, have been published in scientific journals and books. He received numerous grants and awards from international foundations and was a Visiting Professor at various universities including University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Hofstra University, Lehigh University (USA), University of Mainz (Germany), Carleton University (Canada) and the National University of Singapore.

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