Television and the Embodied Viewer

<p><em>Television and the Embodied Viewer</em> appraises the medium’s capacity to evoke sensations and bodily feelings in the viewer. Presenting a fresh approach to television studies, the book examines the sensate force of onscreen bodies and illustrates how TV’s multisensory appeal builds viewer empathy and animates meaning.</p><p>The book draws extensively upon interpretive viewpoints in the humanities to shed light on a range of provocative television works, notably <i>The Americans</i>, <i>Mad Men</i>, <i>Little Women: LA</i>, and <i>Six Feet Under</i>, with emphasis on the dramatization of gender, disability, sex, childbearing, and death. Advocating a biocultural approach that takes into account the mind sciences, Cassidy argues that interpretive meanings, shaped within today’s dynamic cultural matrix, are amplified by somatic experience.</p><p>At a time when questions of embodiment and affect are crossing disciplines, this book will appeal to scholars and students working in the fields of television, film, and media studies, both in the humanities and cognitive traditions.</p> <p><strong>Chapter One:</strong> Television, Sensation, and Meaning</p><p>Chapter Two: Watching Television: Bodies on Both Sides of the Screen</p><p>Chapter Three: <i>Mad Men</i>: The Pleasures and Perils of Food and Drink</p><p>Chapter Four: Performing Little Womanhood: The Multisensory Experience of Dwarfism</p><p>Chapter Five: Meditating with Corpses: <i>Six Feet Under</i>, Decaying Bodies, and the Transcendent</p><p>Chapter Six: Conclusion</p>