O. J. Simpson Facts and Fictions: News Rituals in the Construction of Reality

By Darnell M. Hunt

Book Overview

Abundant popular discourses surround the O. J. Simpson double murder case. By contrast, Darnell M. Hunt scrutinizes these very discourses in order to further our understanding of the interests underlying them. Exploring the relationships between O. J.'s trial, the social location of television viewers (their race, gender and class) and everyday consciousness of social issues, his textual and audience analyses consider the incredible allure of the trial as 'media event'. Looking beyond the obvious explanations of celebrity, scandal and voyeurism, Dr Hunt asks: why was America so obsessed by this case? Why were so many people interested in particular outcomes? and what are we to make of the apparent racial divide in attitudes about the case, as shown in the opinion polls? O. J. Simpson Facts and Fictions incorporates insights from sociology and cultural studies to examine the implications for race relations in the United States at the dawn of the new millennium.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521624681
• ISBN13: 9780521624688
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 364 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Look out!

Or as I like to call it, "O.J. Simpson Facts and Fictions: New B.S. for the Acquisition of Tenure."

a unique perspective, very informative

What Hunt provides is an explanation about why blacks and whites disagreed about the OJ Simpson trial, getting at the underlying assumptions different groups took into the trial and examining how the media played on these assumptions. Actually, he's more sophisticated than simply discussing "blacks and whites," noting divisions within these categories and at times challenging them. He uses a range of methods, including communciations theory, focus groups, quantitative analysis, etc. Much more sophisticated than most of the stuff out there on the trial and its larger meaning.