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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

RIP Jaye P. Morgan, very special guest star of The Muppet Show episode 218 www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHr...

youtube.com

Muppets - Jaye P Morgan & the Electric Mayhem - That Old Black Magic

YouTube video by GrownUpKidsChannel

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

I wrote an essay in 2014 about how circulation of Pulp Fiction quotations have made the film an internet-age classic. Pete Hegseth delivering Jules' "great vengeance" speech as a call to war is a bonkers addition to these. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Abstract
Pulp Fiction, as a film classic of the Internet age, circulates through a culture of online quotation. Fans of the movie repeat bits of dialogue such as ‘royale with cheese’, share images from the film such as the shot of Jules and Vincent aiming their guns, and recreate scenes such as the dance scene with Mia and Vincent. This paper historicizes classic films through the example of Pulp Fiction fans who share expressions of their fandom in YouTube videos and Tumblr postings of images and GIFs. It looks at these quotations as evidence of audiences' interpretive work, which produces ideological meanings about the film. These meanings speak of dominant structures of knowledge and understanding that come from the broader society and its unequal relations of power. Meanings about race and gender, and to a lesser extent class, are especially important in the film's circulation. Some examples of moments and characters of Pulp Fiction analyzed in this paper are Jules and Vincent's interracial hit-man partnership, Mia and Vincents twist at Jack Rabbit Slim's, Jules as an icon of a certain ideal of black masculinity, and Mia's revival after her near-fatal drug overdose. Sometimes these quotations are straightforwardly appreciative, and sometimes they are parodic remixes and mashups. This paper also considers the importance of an absence of certain parts of the film from quotation culture that can be regarded as threatening to dominant conceptions of masculinity, such as the dungeon rape scene.

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Check out my former UWM colleague Aims McGuinness on the often misunderstood idea of "sewer socialism," Milwaukee history, and the interconnection of local and international politics. dissentmagazine.org/article/more...

dissentmagazine.org

More Than Sewers - Dissent Magazine

The pragmatism of the Milwaukee socialists was inseparable from the international world of socialism that they inhabited and helped to shape.

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Gotta appreciate good news when it comes along. Long live the 111 year-old Downer.

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Retargeting advertising today is selling me both editions of my own book.

screenshot of a retargeting advertisement for both editions of The Media Studies Toolkit

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Here's a discount code for The Media Studies Toolkit 2e www.routledge.com/The-Media-St... or ask your university library to acquire it

SAVE 20% USE CODE 26SMA1 at routledge dot com on The Media Studies Toolkit

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

New work: a review of After Mass Media by @drtvlotz.bsky.social in Continuum. Important book for TV studies, lots to learn from it. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

After mass media: storytelling for microaudiences in the twenty-first century

Published in Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies (Ahead of Print, 2026)

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I liked the new Muppet Show and am glad they made it but I'm gonna be really nitpicky and complain that there should not be extra human beings in this show including Seth, Maya, and the lucky folks sitting in the audience. A guest star is the only human in the Muppet Theatre. Sabrina C was perfect.

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Zack Furness @punkademic.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

This is a great text for teaching

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Michael D. Dwyer @michaelddwyer.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

I started using the 1st edition of this book in my intro class a few years back, can't recommend it enough

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The Media Studies Toolkit, 2nd edition, dropped this week. I'm excited for this refreshed, updated, and expanded version to reach students and instructors of introductory courses in media studies. www.routledge.com/The-Media-St... A short thread about what's inside.

book cover of Michael Z. Newman, The Media Studies Toolkit, 2nd ed., Routledge, 2026

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Bruce Springsteen @brucespringsteen.net · 28/01/2026

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

youtu.be

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

I just sent in the proofs and index to the 2nd ed. of The Media Studies Toolkit, coming soon. Added index entries for 2e include: Beyoncé, Carpenter, S., The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Spielberg, S., Swift, T., Wednesday, X (social media).

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Walter Bernstein, Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist (172). Where do we find ourselves now? (This is from next week's course readings in my Media and Society class.)

excerpt about the blacklist and red scare from Bernstein's book. "They were really after the New Deal and the welfare state and panty-waist liberals and the civil rights movement and militant unions and the traitors in the State Department..."

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

New Toolkit edition coming in February 2026 www.routledge.com/The-Media-St...

Book cover of The Media Studies Toolkit Second Edition (Routledge)

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

New Toolkit edition coming in February 2026 www.routledge.com/The-Media-St...

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Book recs: all four of Alison Bechdel's memoir/essay/novels (Fun Home, Are You My Mother?, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, and Spent) which I read over the past few weeks. I would take your recs of more books like these but I guess there will be none until Alison writes another.

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

RIP Cleo Laine, very special guest star of The Muppet Show ep 219 with an Irving Berlin/salad prep Swedish Chef duet www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIuo...

youtube.com

Muppet Show. Swedish Chef, Cleo Laine - You're Just In Love

YouTube video by aarnis

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

The banality of wrongness when using Google seeking basic information -- of course there isn't a BFI classics book on this film even though the AI says there is. You know you're talking to a bullshit engine.

google result incorrectly stating that there is a Film Classics book about The Jazz Singer

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

RIP Loretta Swit, very special guest star of Muppet Show episode 502 (Muppets+Sondheim!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVkl...

youtube.com

Muppet Songs: Loretta Swit - Side by Side

YouTube video by Muppet Songs

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Contemporaries at Post45 @atpost45.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

New cluster!! post45.org/contemporari... ❣️ 📺 ⌨️ 🥰 Edited by @dfmorgan.bsky.social ! "My So-Called Life at 30" features essays on intimacy, literacy, fan studies, mobility, migration, dance, beauty culture, teen dramas, Winnie Holzman, diaspora and fandom, narratology, over-analysis, & more!

post45.org

Contemporaries - Post45

Post45 seeks to reinvigorate the erstwhile convention of academic critics not only describing past traditions but also actively intervening in current tastes. It provides a forum for writers to conver...

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Elana Levine @ehl.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Such a thrill to write about My So-Called Life and Winnie Holzman for @atpost45.bsky.social!

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

[Bracket City] May 11, 2025 www.theatlantic.com/games/bracke... Rank: 🔮 (Puppet Master) 🎹 Total Keystrokes: 70 🎯 Minimum Required: 70 Total Score: 100.0 🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪

theatlantic.com

Bracket City

The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.

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Elana Levine @ehl.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Strong final episode (before a bonus ep!) of Making: Stories Without End. So happy I got to explain my beef with the "OJ killed the soaps" narrative, one of my pet peeves www.wbez.org/making/2025/...

wbez.org

TV wouldn’t be TV without soap operas

Soaps once brought in 75% of a TV network’s revenue, says author Elana Levine. “Soaps were a legitimate kind of pop culture sensation.”

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Longtime Fresh Air listeners, if you have tears prepare to shed them.

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Look at the Camera @lookatthecamera.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Harold and Maude (1971)

Harold's conspiratorial glance at the camera.

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Several Wisconsin universities are represented here including Madison, but I see no other UW System school.

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Flow @flowtv.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Dr. Newman explores the use of camera looks in sitcoms like Abbott Elementary as a comedic device. Establishing direct connection with the audience, blending traditions of comedic performance that invite viewer participation & emotional response. Read it here: tinyurl.com/4vp8uakv

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Two hypothetical higher ed AI uses I learned about today: tracking students' locations and cross-referencing with course schedules to identify frequent absentees and direct advising interventions to them; and feeding course contents into an AI to produce a custom chatbot to answer student Qs 24/7.

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Look at the Camera @lookatthecamera.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Three's Company (1977)

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Flow @flowtv.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

🥳New Flow?! With Michael Z. Newman, @geraldsim.bsky.social , @matthewcrain.bsky.social , Roderik Smits, & Andrew Stubbs-Lacy! Topics include: camera looks in sitcoms, advertising’s integration of AI, Big Tech’s lobbying efforts, "fair pay” in media industries, & Welcome to Wrexham! flowjournal.org

media.tenor.com

a group of minions wearing hard hats and goggles are standing together

ALT: a group of minions wearing hard hats and goggles are standing together

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

For Flow, I wrote this essay about the camera looks in Abbott Elementary and other comedies, and camera looks more generally going back to film comedian comedies and musicals. I connect these looks to the sitcom laugh track. www.flowjournal.org/2025/04/came...

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Raffi Sarkissian @rsark.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Great FLOW piece quoted below… reinvigorates my desire to think more/write about the Once & Again confessionals (rarity in drama) where they also use shorter cutaways and looks (though in confessional) to achieve winks and humor.

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Mike Crivello's Cameras 262-782-4303 @mikecrivellos.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

hey-ooooooo, some writing about #AbbottElementary by a fellow from #Milwaukee! :)

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

This is me in conversation with Myles about The Pitt and TV storytelling.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

The internet’s effort to capture the throwback qualities of #ThePitt was a bat signal for media scholars invested in the semantics of TV narrative, so here’s me and @mznewman.bsky.social parsing whether the show is really a procedural. (cc: @tvmojoe.bsky.social).

open.substack.com

Week-to-Week: Categorizing The Pitt with Michael Z. Newman

Two media scholars parse the generic uncertainties of Max's throwback medical drama

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

I didn't anticipate when putting Carrie (1976) on the syllabus for April 22-24 (intro to film studies) that it would be such a great Easter/prom season twofer.

Carrie's mother, crucified with kitchen knives

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

Podcast rec, happy to learn from this episode that pandemic podcast fave (weird to have that bundle of feelings) Home Cooking is coming back with these two. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/k...

podcasts.apple.com

Key Change: Samin Nosrat on Ani DiFranco

Podcast Episode · Song Exploder · 04/16/2025 · 27m

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

This is a really good TV history podcast with a critical edge and lots of great audio clips.

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Elana Levine @ehl.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

First episode out today for Making: Stories without End podcast from @wbez.org! This one is mostly about the "mother" of daytime soap opera, Irna Phillips. If you like Chicago, broadcast history, soap opera, or listening to me you will enjoy it! www.wbez.org/making/2025/...

wbez.org

Meet Irna Phillips: The Queen of Daytime

Meet the Chicago woman who birthed the soap opera, first for radio in the 1930s and then TV in the 1950s.

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Michael Newman @mznewman.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Midwestern media studies folks, check out this exciting event coming up later this month featuring Neil Verma as keynote speaker. April 18-19 at UW-Milwaukee. Neil's talk is April 18 at 7 pm in Mitchell 195 (where all conference events will be held).

Poster for Drawing (In)Attention 2nd Midwest Graduate Film & Media Studies Symposium

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Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

As #scms25 approaches (first of the post-twitter era!), feel free to follow this conference feed in Bluesky to track the discourse:

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