My research is primarily focused on analyzing mediated representations of marginalized groups, tracing viewer reception of representation, and understanding viewer/reader immersion in stories through the practice of media marathoning.
I have taught over a dozen classes in the areas of media studies, communication theory, communication skills, and rhetoric. Address: Research Blog: http://mediamarathoning.com/
This essay explores tensions surrounding television spoilers through interviews with thirteen peo... more This essay explores tensions surrounding television spoilers through interviews with thirteen people who are paid to write or edit discourse about television. These professionals include television critics, editors, an entertainment reporter, a popular culture writer, and a television columnist. Analysis of interview transcripts revealed that varying attitudes toward television pleasure undergird the spoiler debate. After describing three divergent television pleasure attitudes, we present the second half of our analysis: interviewees’ statements about the timing of their publications, the content of their writing, and the packaging of their writing. Properly packaging their writing so that readers need to “opt in” was the only area of consensus among interviewees. Proper packaging essentially ameliorates the divergent attitudes about spoilers and media pleasures, the disagreements about temporality and content. The essay describes proper packaging through a nuisance rationale framework, one that reduces spoiler exposure for those who wish to avoid it but keeps engaging commentary available for those who actively seek it. These findings shed light on how to negotiate communicative tensions stemming from evolving media engagement patterns.
Full Text Link: http://contemporaryrhetoric.com/articles/Perks10_4.pdf
Although academic publishi... more Full Text Link: http://contemporaryrhetoric.com/articles/Perks10_4.pdf Although academic publishing may seem a solitary exercise, this need not take place in a vacuum. This essay provides an example of one author’s attempt to create an online community through a blog describing her ongoing book project. She describes how individuals resisted her attempts to foster interaction on the site; instead, they interacted individually with the author across various media in a “hub-and-spoke pattern,” rather than with each other.
This essay explores viewer meaning-making with an ironic and satiric television text, analyzing f... more This essay explores viewer meaning-making with an ironic and satiric television text, analyzing focus group discourse from Chappelle's Show viewers. Participants’ interpretations of Chappelle's Show's representation repeated historical mediated stereotypes of a “Black and White” world that includes violent Black characters and “dorky” White characters. Despite nearly uniform identification of the show's stereotypes, focus group participants made varying meanings from the show using three primary decoding positions: refusing to acknowledge the show's ideological implications, attending to the text's “realistic” stated meanings, or actively deriving higher meanings from the humorous exaggerations. Explicating these decoding positions encourages viewers to be more conscious of their own interpretive practices and illuminates how critical television scholars can more thoroughly explore the interactions between viewers and satiric texts.
This article explicates the discursive foundations that bubble up multiple meanings in racial hum... more This article explicates the discursive foundations that bubble up multiple meanings in racial humor, describing three prominent discursive clashes at the heart of Chappelle's Show’s polysemic comedy: Egregious stereotyping versus subtler mediated racism, inverted racial stereotypes versus traditional stereotypes, and serious versus nonserious discourse. Throughout the article, I make a case for “polysemic scaffolding,” a method that positions polysemy as a taken-for-granted interaction among text, author, and audience, and instead seeks to understand the discursive patterns that will eventually have their polysemic meanings activated. This article underscores the importance of not only undertaking polysemic criticism, but also of uncovering the discursive scaffolding upon which the polysemy is based.El Andamiaje Polisémico: Explicando el Choque Discursivo en el Programa de ChappelleLisa Glebatis PerksResumenEste ensayo explica las fundaciones discursivas que emergen de los significados múltiples del humor racial, mediante la descripción de 3 choques discursivos prominentes en el corazón de la comedia polisémica del programa de Chappelle: el estereotipar en forma flagrante versus el solapado racismo mediático, los estereotipos raciales invertidos versus los estereotipos tradicionales, y los discursos serios versus los no serios. A través del artículo, afirmo el caso del “andamiaje polisémico,’’ como un método que posiciona a la polisemia como una interacción no tenida en cuenta entre el texto, el autor y la audiencia, y en cambio busca entender las pautas discursivas que activarán eventualmente los significados polisémicos. Este artículo subraya la importancia de, no solo asumir una crítica polisémica, sino también revelar el andamiaje discursivo por el cual la polisemia está basada.L’échafaudage polysémique : une explication des accrochages discursifs dans le Chappelle’s ShowLisa Glebatis PerksCet essai explique les fondements discursifs d’oùémergent des significations multiples dans l’humour racial, en décrivant trois importants accrochages qui sont au cœur de la comédie polysémique du Chappelle’s Show : la stéréotypification flagrante contre un plus subtil racisme médié, les stéréotypes raciaux inversés contre les stéréotypes traditionnels, et le discours sérieux contre le discours non sérieux. Tout au long de l’article, je défends l’«échafaudage polysémique », une méthode qui traite la polysémie comme une interaction tenue pour acquise entre le texte, l’auteur et l’auditoire, et qui cherche plutôt à comprendre les schémas discursifs dont les significations polysémiques seront rendues actives. Cet article souligne l’importance non seulement d’entreprendre une critique polysémique, mais aussi de révéler l’échafaudage discursif sur lequel s’appuie la polysémie.Polysemisches Rüstzeug: Die Explikation von diskursiven Reibungsflächen in der Chappelle’s ShowLisa Glebatis PerksDieser Aufsatz expliziert die diskursiven Grundpfeiler, die in den verschiedenen Bedeutungen von rassistischem Humor zum Vorschein kommen. Beschrieben werden diese anhand von drei diskursiven Einwürfen als Kern der polysemischen Komik in der Chappelle’s Show: hervorragende Stereotypisierung versus mediatisierter Rassismus, verkehrte rassistische Stereotype versus traditionelle Stereotype und ernster versus nicht-ernster Diskurs. Im Laufe des Artikels argumentiere ich für ein ,,polysemisches Rüstzeug“ als eine Methode, die Polysemie als eine selbstverständliche Interaktion zwischen Text, Autor und Zuschauern positioniert, und bestrebt ist, die diskursiven Muster, welche möglicherweise ihre diskursiven Bedeutungen aktivieren, nachzuvollziehen. Dieser Artikel unterstreicht nicht nur die Wichtigkeit, polysemische Kritik anzubringen, sondern versucht auch, das polysemische Rüstzeug als Basis von Polysemie, herauszuarbeiten.
Sports media depictions of the Yankees and Red Sox have produced ironic team personae that can be... more Sports media depictions of the Yankees and Red Sox have produced ironic team personae that can best be understood through the lens of Fisher's (1973) materialistic and moralistic American dreams. In this article, the author traces the interaction of Burke's first three tropes—metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche—in sports news coverage of the Yankees and Red Sox from 2000–2010 to explain the discursive construction of the teams' ironic personae. Collectively, media emphasis on money metaphors, the Yankees' lucrative 21st century stadium, and a militaristic owner align the team persona with a materialistic, aggressive economic competition model, whereas the Red Sox are represented by metaphors of frugality, a classic stadium, and familial “Idiots” to create a moralistic, cooperative image of the organization. The teams' personae are ultimately created and sustained through the tropological cycle and the dialectical interaction of the rivals.
This essay explores tensions surrounding television spoilers through interviews with thirteen peo... more This essay explores tensions surrounding television spoilers through interviews with thirteen people who are paid to write or edit discourse about television. These professionals include television critics, editors, an entertainment reporter, a popular culture writer, and a television columnist. Analysis of interview transcripts revealed that varying attitudes toward television pleasure undergird the spoiler debate. After describing three divergent television pleasure attitudes, we present the second half of our analysis: interviewees’ statements about the timing of their publications, the content of their writing, and the packaging of their writing. Properly packaging their writing so that readers need to “opt in” was the only area of consensus among interviewees. Proper packaging essentially ameliorates the divergent attitudes about spoilers and media pleasures, the disagreements about temporality and content. The essay describes proper packaging through a nuisance rationale framework, one that reduces spoiler exposure for those who wish to avoid it but keeps engaging commentary available for those who actively seek it. These findings shed light on how to negotiate communicative tensions stemming from evolving media engagement patterns.
Full Text Link: http://contemporaryrhetoric.com/articles/Perks10_4.pdf
Although academic publishi... more Full Text Link: http://contemporaryrhetoric.com/articles/Perks10_4.pdf Although academic publishing may seem a solitary exercise, this need not take place in a vacuum. This essay provides an example of one author’s attempt to create an online community through a blog describing her ongoing book project. She describes how individuals resisted her attempts to foster interaction on the site; instead, they interacted individually with the author across various media in a “hub-and-spoke pattern,” rather than with each other.
This essay explores viewer meaning-making with an ironic and satiric television text, analyzing f... more This essay explores viewer meaning-making with an ironic and satiric television text, analyzing focus group discourse from Chappelle's Show viewers. Participants’ interpretations of Chappelle's Show's representation repeated historical mediated stereotypes of a “Black and White” world that includes violent Black characters and “dorky” White characters. Despite nearly uniform identification of the show's stereotypes, focus group participants made varying meanings from the show using three primary decoding positions: refusing to acknowledge the show's ideological implications, attending to the text's “realistic” stated meanings, or actively deriving higher meanings from the humorous exaggerations. Explicating these decoding positions encourages viewers to be more conscious of their own interpretive practices and illuminates how critical television scholars can more thoroughly explore the interactions between viewers and satiric texts.
This article explicates the discursive foundations that bubble up multiple meanings in racial hum... more This article explicates the discursive foundations that bubble up multiple meanings in racial humor, describing three prominent discursive clashes at the heart of Chappelle's Show’s polysemic comedy: Egregious stereotyping versus subtler mediated racism, inverted racial stereotypes versus traditional stereotypes, and serious versus nonserious discourse. Throughout the article, I make a case for “polysemic scaffolding,” a method that positions polysemy as a taken-for-granted interaction among text, author, and audience, and instead seeks to understand the discursive patterns that will eventually have their polysemic meanings activated. This article underscores the importance of not only undertaking polysemic criticism, but also of uncovering the discursive scaffolding upon which the polysemy is based.El Andamiaje Polisémico: Explicando el Choque Discursivo en el Programa de ChappelleLisa Glebatis PerksResumenEste ensayo explica las fundaciones discursivas que emergen de los significados múltiples del humor racial, mediante la descripción de 3 choques discursivos prominentes en el corazón de la comedia polisémica del programa de Chappelle: el estereotipar en forma flagrante versus el solapado racismo mediático, los estereotipos raciales invertidos versus los estereotipos tradicionales, y los discursos serios versus los no serios. A través del artículo, afirmo el caso del “andamiaje polisémico,’’ como un método que posiciona a la polisemia como una interacción no tenida en cuenta entre el texto, el autor y la audiencia, y en cambio busca entender las pautas discursivas que activarán eventualmente los significados polisémicos. Este artículo subraya la importancia de, no solo asumir una crítica polisémica, sino también revelar el andamiaje discursivo por el cual la polisemia está basada.L’échafaudage polysémique : une explication des accrochages discursifs dans le Chappelle’s ShowLisa Glebatis PerksCet essai explique les fondements discursifs d’oùémergent des significations multiples dans l’humour racial, en décrivant trois importants accrochages qui sont au cœur de la comédie polysémique du Chappelle’s Show : la stéréotypification flagrante contre un plus subtil racisme médié, les stéréotypes raciaux inversés contre les stéréotypes traditionnels, et le discours sérieux contre le discours non sérieux. Tout au long de l’article, je défends l’«échafaudage polysémique », une méthode qui traite la polysémie comme une interaction tenue pour acquise entre le texte, l’auteur et l’auditoire, et qui cherche plutôt à comprendre les schémas discursifs dont les significations polysémiques seront rendues actives. Cet article souligne l’importance non seulement d’entreprendre une critique polysémique, mais aussi de révéler l’échafaudage discursif sur lequel s’appuie la polysémie.Polysemisches Rüstzeug: Die Explikation von diskursiven Reibungsflächen in der Chappelle’s ShowLisa Glebatis PerksDieser Aufsatz expliziert die diskursiven Grundpfeiler, die in den verschiedenen Bedeutungen von rassistischem Humor zum Vorschein kommen. Beschrieben werden diese anhand von drei diskursiven Einwürfen als Kern der polysemischen Komik in der Chappelle’s Show: hervorragende Stereotypisierung versus mediatisierter Rassismus, verkehrte rassistische Stereotype versus traditionelle Stereotype und ernster versus nicht-ernster Diskurs. Im Laufe des Artikels argumentiere ich für ein ,,polysemisches Rüstzeug“ als eine Methode, die Polysemie als eine selbstverständliche Interaktion zwischen Text, Autor und Zuschauern positioniert, und bestrebt ist, die diskursiven Muster, welche möglicherweise ihre diskursiven Bedeutungen aktivieren, nachzuvollziehen. Dieser Artikel unterstreicht nicht nur die Wichtigkeit, polysemische Kritik anzubringen, sondern versucht auch, das polysemische Rüstzeug als Basis von Polysemie, herauszuarbeiten.
Sports media depictions of the Yankees and Red Sox have produced ironic team personae that can be... more Sports media depictions of the Yankees and Red Sox have produced ironic team personae that can best be understood through the lens of Fisher's (1973) materialistic and moralistic American dreams. In this article, the author traces the interaction of Burke's first three tropes—metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche—in sports news coverage of the Yankees and Red Sox from 2000–2010 to explain the discursive construction of the teams' ironic personae. Collectively, media emphasis on money metaphors, the Yankees' lucrative 21st century stadium, and a militaristic owner align the team persona with a materialistic, aggressive economic competition model, whereas the Red Sox are represented by metaphors of frugality, a classic stadium, and familial “Idiots” to create a moralistic, cooperative image of the organization. The teams' personae are ultimately created and sustained through the tropological cycle and the dialectical interaction of the rivals.
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Papers by Lisa Perks
Although academic publishing may seem a solitary exercise, this need not take place in a vacuum. This essay provides an example of one author’s attempt to create an online community through a blog describing her ongoing book project. She describes how individuals resisted her attempts to foster interaction on the site; instead, they interacted individually with the author across various media in a “hub-and-spoke pattern,” rather than with each other.
Although academic publishing may seem a solitary exercise, this need not take place in a vacuum. This essay provides an example of one author’s attempt to create an online community through a blog describing her ongoing book project. She describes how individuals resisted her attempts to foster interaction on the site; instead, they interacted individually with the author across various media in a “hub-and-spoke pattern,” rather than with each other.