ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this part. The part outlines the most significant of 1980s and 1990s strains. It examines authorship, stylistics, genre study, and semiotics. The part summarizes ideological analysis, political economy, feminism, queer theory, and race and ethnic studies. The critical approach rests on the fundamental principle of interpretation. To interpret a television program, the television industry's discourse about production, the publications of a TV fan community, or any other cultural object is to pursue its meaning or significance. Scholarly critics seek to understand their objects of study by: engaging with them intellectually; closely examining their constituent parts; arguing for certain meanings and significance; and commonly, placing them within the analytical tradition of an interpretation-based theory and/or method. For centuries, critical approach has been employed to understand phenomena from the ancient theater to literature, painting, sculpture, the cinema, television, and all other arts and mass media.
