My Mom put out our family Christmas decorations last weekend. She called me afterward and we both cried about my Dad’s stocking. Dad passed away in July. While coping with his loss, I leaned on remaining family and good friends, but also on wizards. Writing the Media Marathoning book helped me realize that I take solace in…
Curator’s note: This is the third of five blog posts made by students in Dr. Perks’s spring 2015 Media Marathoning class at Nazareth College. Students conducted qualitative research projects in groups addressing one research question. These blog posts represent their distillation of findings that are also reported in 8-10 page essays. This post is from Joel,…
Note: Students in Media Marathoning created blog posts to extend our understanding of heroes and villains. This one comes from Chase, Cole, Elizabeth, and Gabby. Even though villains and heroes are often seen as adversaries, heroes often have a tangible or metaphysical “6th sense” that links them to their villain. This connection can be seen…
I’m delighted to announce that I signed a Lexington Books contract for Media Marathoning: Immersions and Morality. I’m currently revising in response to peer feedback. The book may even be in print by the end of this year. I look forward to kicking off a scholarly conversation about media marathoning. In 2013, the popular press exploded with…
The recent ice storm that crippled Atlanta had me thinking about The Walking Dead. The lines of stranded cars do evoke scenes from the zombie apocalypse, but my mind drifted to one small line from the show. In “18 Miles Out,” Rick recalls that when his cousin got stuck on I-85 for a whole day,…
Holidays are a time to indulge–in decadent desserts, bacon-wrapped appetizers, mulled wines, and media. Articles in Slate and The New York Times have chastised those who over-indulge in media, giving these people the derisive label “binge viewers.” We know that the substance of those sugar cookies and pork bellies isn’t healthy, but what about the…
My Introduction to Media Studies course is currently grappling with Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. Comprehending the medium as metaphor for our culture is challenging, so I present a lot of examples in class to help them see the reading in a new way. In this first of two media marathoning blog posts, I…
I am far enough in my media marathoning research and writing that I’m ready to announce my thesis: The immersive experience of media marathoning creates a liminal space through which the fictive and real worlds come into contact. In this space, marathoners are able to use the dialogue between fictive and real worlds to work…
This month has been very enjoyable (and hectic) because of new baby Rosaleen and no day care for three-year-old Hazel, but I didn’t want to let June slip away without making a post. I’m almost finished drafting the “Cognitive Involvement” chapter of the marathoning monograph and wanted to report an interesting comment from (pseudonym) Sarah.…
From Amanda Davis Gatchet: As I work through the interviews with our marathoning participants, it strikes me that people who marathon often “re-marathon,” returning to much loved characters and storylines again and again. This resonates with my own marathoning experiences—at least with the marathons I do for me, not for research. I don’t even want…