The Politics of Pictures: The Creation of the Public in the Age of the Popular Media

by John Hartley

The Politics of Pictures is a history of looking, from Aristotle to TV audiences, from the invention of photography to the meaning of picnics, from Leviathan to synchronised swimming, Dr Johnson to the sexualization of war. John Hartley's wide-ranging and sometimes bizarre journey of discovery looks for the public in the realm of media, where citizens are now literally represented on screen and page. The book investigates popular media reality by showing how pictures and texts are powerful political forces in their own right, using a variety of primary texts to explore the way publics have been created, and exploring the political uses of media audiences. The unconventional approach is designed to show how popular reality looks to itself, and how its peculiar forms and connections actually challenge some venerable political and philosophical truths.

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 19, 1993

About the author

John Hartley is Professor of Cultural Science and Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. His books include Creative Industries (2005), Television Truths (2008), Story Circle (2009), and Digital Futures for Cultural and Media Studies (2012).