Black Marks

This title was first published in 2001. This text brings together a collection of empirical studies focusing on the relationships which minority ethnic audiences have with and to media texts, both mainstream and minority. The media which comprise the focus for the essays include television, film, advertising, magazines and the press. The field of media studies has moved beyond the model of media consumer as passive recipient towards individuals and groups who are altogether more engaged, responsive and critical. But studies of the interactive media consumer often fail to consider the specific characteristics of "race" and ethnicity which come into play for minority ethnic audiences, and this book aims to add to the limited knowledge of the ways in which ethnic markers intervene in textual understanding and contestation.