Chapter 4: Megaspectacle.

This article highlights the O. J. Simpson murder trial in the 1990s. The case of former football player and media celebrity was the major media spectacle of the mid-1990s. It became a national obsession and cultural arena, which dramatized society's conflicts around race, gender, class, and celebrit...

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Published in:Media Spectacle pp. 93 - 126
Main Author: Kellner, Douglas
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Chapter 4: Megaspectacle.
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        au: Kellner, Douglas
        affil: George F. Kneller Philosophy of Education Chair, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
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        O. J. Simpson Trial
        Ex-football players
        Identity politics
        Politics & culture
        Homicide
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          O. J. Simpson Trial
          Ex-football players
          Identity politics
          Politics & culture
          Homicide
      ab: This article highlights the O. J. Simpson murder trial in the 1990s. The case of former football player and media celebrity was the major media spectacle of the mid-1990s. It became a national obsession and cultural arena, which dramatized society's conflicts around race, gender, class, and celebrity and demonstrated that contemporary U.S. politics was being fragmented into what became known as identity politics. Identity politics is bound up with the increased political role of media culture and the ways in which the media frame, mobilize, and influence political issues. The Simpson megaspectacle discloses the important role of celebrity culture in the contemporary era, the ubiquitous role of media spectacle, and the ways in which highly polarizing and controversial cases in a media society can fragment and divide the population. The O. J. Simpson murder case demonstrates the extent to which the legal system and politics are deeply influenced by media spectacle and how dramatic trials and legal decisions and the political responses of the public are fundamentally mediated through the media. The intense fascination with the O. J. Simpson megaspectacle displays how people have come to live out society's major conflicts in a mass mediated space that becomes the arbiter of what is real and important, with highly unpredictable and complex effects. The courtroom drama and melodrama surrounding the trial created a national media megaspectacle perhaps unparalleled in its intensity and explosive in its effects.
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