Essay: Doug Kellner’s Critical Take on Cultural Studies in the Media

In Doug Kellner’s “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture,” Kellner highlights that “we are immersed from cradle to grave in a media and consumer society…” which makes it increasingly important that society inhabits and fully comprehends messages from the media (Kellner 9). Moreover, I found Kellner’s example of the British study on “sub-cultures” to be particularly enticing, being that subcultures such as “punk culture” or “Black nationalists” push back against standard models of mainstream groups, which society is used to following along with in media. Not only this, but Kellner stresses the point that cultural studies is directly related to everyday life and impacts all members of society. Furthermore, Kellner argues that in order to effectively use cultural studies, he must take-on a multiperspectival approach when discussing a critical take on cultural studies, which Kellner defines as “discussing production and political economy,” “engaging textual analysis,” and “studying the reception and use of cultural texts” (Kellner 12). Kellner believes that these three points are most useful when taking on a comprehensive approach to cultural studies, which will not exclude other groups or too narrowly focus on one aspect of culture.
Kellner first delves into the issue of production and political economy, where he criticizes that the study of the codes of television/other media forms are enhanced by studying the formulas and conventions of production (Kellner 12). The example of music being three to five minutes long shows that media is controlled by major corporations owned by television and film, which is primarily driven towards profit and political ideals. Likewise, Kellner discusses his study done on television in the 1980s where television was taken over by three major TV corporations by means of the “right turn,” which aided the era of “Reaganism” and war efforts. Kellenr warns that in a time of globalization, society needs to be aware of global networks that only thrive off of producing material for interests of profit and corporate domination (Kellner 13). Additionally, Kellner introduces the need for textual analysis which is read by a diverse number of groups. For example, Kellner explains how Marxist methods focuses on class, whereas a feminist approach will highlight gender, and gay/lesbian theories explicate sexuality (Kellner 115). So, it is important to note that one must acknowledge the audience interpreting the text/media because not all individuals derive from the same “group” or hold identical perspectives. Lastly, Kellner explains how solely focusing cultural studies off of textual analysis or audience reactions has become more dangerous to the world of cultural studies, since it lacks the side of political economy and production of culture. Such methods are too one-sided and can enforce bias through use of audience reactions. Kellner describes how online studies are carried-out through use of search engines like Google in addition to online chatrooms compared to using ethnographic methods.
I find it particularly important that Kellner highlights how “corporate conglomeratization” has intensified more in today’s society, where global media control more and more of the production, as well as distribution of culture (Kellner 13). I was unaware prior to reading this that the ownership of conservative media companies ran what was most seen on television, especially during the Bush campaign. When comparing this to the 2016 election, it makes sense that Trump gained much media attention because conservative companies were paying for a copious amount of media campaigns for Trump, which impacted viewers of such media.