Theories help to troubleshoot gaps in our understanding, and to make sense of a world that is constantly changing. What this book tries to do, in part, is blur the lines between the differences between today's college students - the millennial generation - and their professors, many of whom hail from the Boom Generation and Generation X.
In the following chapters, contributors build upon what both parties already know. Writing in a highly accessible yet compelling style, contributors explain communication theories by applying them to «artifacts» of popular culture. These «artifacts» include Lady Gaga, Pixar films, The Hunger Games, hip hop, Breaking Bad, and zombies, among others. Using this book, students will become familiar with key theories in communication while developing creative and critical thinking. By experiencing familiar popular culture artifacts through the lens of critical and interpretive theories, a new generation of communication professionals and scholars will hone their skills of observation and interpretation - pointing not just toward better communication production, but better social understanding.
Professors will especially enjoy the opportunities for discussion this book provides, both through the essays and the «dialogue boxes» where college students provide responses to authors' ideas.

Writing in a highly accessible yet compelling style, contributors explain communication theories by applying them to "artifacts" of popular culture. Using this book, students will become familiar with key theories in communication while developing creative and critical thinking.

Contents: Kathleen Glenister Roberts: Editor's Note - Nancy Bressler: Improving Your Speech Delivery with Modern Family and Friends - Jake Dionne/Joe Hatfield: Life as Performance - Dramatism and the Music of Lady Gaga - Gerald J. Hickly III: «Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose» - Finding the God-Terms in Friday Night Lights - Kathleen Glenister Roberts: Understanding Ceremonial Speech through Fantasy Literature - Elena C. Strauman: Winning Isn't Everything - Credibility, Leadership, and Virtue in HBO's Game of Thrones - Janelle Applequist: «Let it go, let it go» - Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in Disney's Frozen - Claudia Bucciferro: Mockingjays and Silent Salutes - Introducing Semiotics through The Hunger Games - Garret Castleberry: Understanding Stuart Hall's «Encoding/Decoding» Model through TV's Breaking Bad - Hunter H. Fine: Postmodern Theory and Hip-Hop Cultural Discourse - Bruce W. Finklea/Sally Bennett Hardig: Seen but Not Heard - Exploring Muted Group Theory in Pixar's The Incredibles, WALL-E, and Brave - Krystal Fogle: Knope vs. Pope: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Scandal vs. Parks & Recreation - Brian Gilchrist: The Smartphone as Permanent Substitute Teacher - Paul A. Lucas: Media and Technology - Metal and Mutation in the X-Men Films - Andrew Sharma/Chrys Egan: Hashtag Television Advertising - The Multistep Flow of Millennial TV Usage, Commercial Viewing, and Social Media Interaction - Brent Sleasman: Zombie Apocalypse, Haitian Vodou, and Media Ecology - A Cautionary Tale for Our Technological Future - Linnea Sudduth Ward: Uses and Gratifications Theory in How I Met Your Mother - True Story - Andrew Cole/Bob DuBois: «Don't Open, Dead Inside» - External and Internal Noise in The Walking Dead - Holly Holladay/Sara Trask: Hook, Line, and Sinker - Theories of Interpersonal Deception and Manipulation in Catfish - Alysa Ann Lucas: «Got a Secret. Can You Keep It?» - Pretty Little Liars, Friendship, and Privacy Management - Kelli Jean K. Smith/Sharmila Pixy Ferris: Social Penetration Theory and Relationship Formation in Harry Potter.

Writing in a highly accessible yet compelling style, contributors explain communication theories by applying them to «artifacts» of popular culture. Using this book, students will become familiar with key theories in communication while developing creative and critical thinking.