Patrick: The sorts of questions you seem to be asking re. the admixture of reality and simulation suggest a postmodern direction to your media criticism. There are a number of works in postmodernity and popular culture worth looking at: a. postmodernity, postmodernism and cultural theory per se Jean Baudrillard. Simulations. Frederic Jameson, "Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" in Jameson's volume of the same name. A classic neo-Marxist critique of the postmodern. b. postmodernity and popular culture John Fiske, "Television and Postmodernism" in the James Curran and Michael Gurevitch edited volume, Mass Media and Society. There are many Dutch contributors to that volume, including Denis McQuail, Ien Ang, and Lisbet van Zoonen. Jim Collins, Uncommon Culture: Postmodernism and Popular Culture Douglas Kellner, Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern. c. any periodical literature on the "reality-based" shows so popular in North America ... e.g. of "Cops", "Hard Copy", other forms of infotainment J. David Black Instructor, Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario Canada 519-884-1970, ext. 3868 [log in to unmask] "The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth. The simulacrum is the truth which conceals that there is none." Jean Baudrillard, Simulations ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]