Jonathan Gray

Ph.D., University of London

Faculty Memorial Hall 452
718-817-4861
jongray@fordham.edu

Courses:
Television and Society
Understanding Television
Mass Media and National Identity
Class, Taste, and Mass Culture
International Communication
Political Satire

Dr. Gray grew up in Canada, England, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, finally settling for a few years in London to do his M.A. and Ph.D. at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His thesis examined parody and intertextuality in television, using The Simpsons as case study; this thesis became his first book, Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality.

Trained in the British cultural studies tradition, Gray employs both textual analysis and qualitative audience research to analyze, broadly speaking, how individuals and communities interact with the media, and how the media is made meaningful – how it is used – in this interaction. More specifically, these research interests have lead to the study of several interrelated areas, studying: (1) television entertainment, especially current developments in form, structure, and technology; (2) popular politics, parody, and satire; (3) international media and media reception; (4) media audiences, particularly fans and anti-fans; and (5) the nature of the media text/product.

In addition to the books listed below, he recently submitted to press a co-edited collection (with Jeffrey P. Jones and Ethan Thompson) entitled Satire TV: Comedy and Politics in the Post-Network Era, and is currently working on a book about the many instances of hype and synergy that surround film and television – from DVDs to video games, podcasts to trailers, spoilers to mashups, reviews to ad campaigns, and so forth.

Dr. Gray regularly contributes to a group blog, The Extratextuals: Up the Content Stream Without a Paddle, and co-edits the Taylor and Francis journal, Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture. He also sits on the editorial boards of Critical Studies in Media Communications, The International Journal of Cultural Studies, and Transformative Works and Culture.

Selected Publications:

Books
Television Entertainment (Routledge, 2008)
Battleground: The Media, edited with Robin Andersen (Greenwood, 2008)
Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, edited with Cornel Sandvoss and C. Lee Harrington (NYU, 2007)
Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality (Routledge, 2006)

Articles
“Television Pre-Views and the Meaning of Hype,” International Journal of Cultural Studies 11.1 (March, 2008)
“Imagining America: The Simpsons Go Global,” Popular Communication 5.2 (May/June, 2007)
“Speculation on Spoilers: Lost Fandom, Narrative Consumption, and Rethinking Textuality,” with Jason Mittell, Participations: International Journal of Audience Research 4.1 (2007)
“Television Teaching: Parody, The Simpsons and Media Literacy Education,” Critical Studies in Media Communications 22.3 (August, 2005)
“Anti-Fandom and the Moral Text: Television Without Pity and Textual Dislike,” American Behavioral Scientist 48.7 (March, 2005).
“New Audiences, New Textualities: Anti-Fans and Non-Fans,” International Journal of Cultural Studies 6.1 (2003)