"In her writing for Harper's, the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, and elsewhere, Lauren Oyler has emerged as one of the most trenchant and influential critics of her generation, a talent whose judgments on works of literature--whether celebratory or scarily harsh--have become notorious. But what is the significance of being a critic and consumer of media in today's fraught environment? How do we understand ourselves, and each other, as space...

This book examines the mass media as economic and cultural institutions that shape our social identities, especially in regard to gender, race, and class. The introductory section outlines the book's integrated approach to media studies, which incorporates three distinct but related areas of investigation: the political economy of production, textual analysis, and audience response