Sut Jhally
Encyclopedia
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
and is one of the world’s leading experts on cultural studies, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, and consumption
Consumption (economics)
Consumption is a common concept in economics, and gives rise to derived concepts such as consumer debt. Generally, consumption is defined in part by comparison to production. But the precise definition can vary because different schools of economists define production quite differently...
. He is the producer of 40+ documentaries on media literacy
Media literacy
Media literacy is a repertoire of competences that enable people to analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres, and forms.-Education:...
topics and the founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation.
The Media Education Foundation (MEF) is a non-profit
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
established in 1992 which "produces and distributes documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical reflection on the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media." MEF offers resources designed to help spark discussion about some of the most pressing, and complicated, issues of our time, in one of the last independent spheres left in the society: the classroom. Their aim is to inspire students to think critically and in new ways about the hyper-mediated world around them.
Also the author of 6 books and numerous scholarly and popular articles, Sut Jhally is a renowned public speaker and teacher. He has won the coveted "Distinguished Teacher Award" at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where the student newspaper has also voted him "Best Professor." He has shown his films and lectured at many colleges and universities nationally and internationally. He was named one of New Woman magazine's "People of the Year" in 1992.
Dealing with issues vital to campus life - the media's relationship to gender, violence, sexual assault, date rape, racism and commercialism - Sut Jhally enlightens and empowers audiences to take actions towards creating a more just and compassionate world.
Sut Jhally was born in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and raised in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1978 after accepting a scholarship to the University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
. He continued his studies at Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
, where he received his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
Works
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, as well as various aspects of US foreign policy.
In his 1991 video "Dreamworlds" he describes the image of women in music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s as male adolescent fantasies: young and pretty, willing and eager to please men, saying no when meaning yes, often reduced to outward appearances and body parts. He concludes that an unhealthy attitude towards sexual violence can be fostered by these videos, and calls for balancing them with other cultural representations of sexuality. When MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
complained about his use of parts of copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed music videos, he claimed fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
and contacted the media about the story.
He has been quoted as saying, “Advertising tells us that the way to happiness is through the consumption of objects. The immense accumulation of commodities has to be sold, and it is sold through the story of goods bringing happiness.” In his essay "Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse" and his video "Advertising and the End of the World" he argues that the major cultural force today, pervasive advertising, by constantly reinforcing a bogus association between consumerism
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
and happiness and by focusing on individual immediate needs, stands in the way of a discussion of societal and long-term needs and leads to a squandering of resources. The video "Killing Us Softly III", created with Jean Kilbourne
Jean Kilbourne
Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is a feminist author, speaker, and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising...
, is a critique of the image of women in advertising.
Among other quotes students of his communication classes will hear from him, two of the most unforgettable are "knowing where something comes from, changes how you feel about it" and the phrase "the discourse through and about objects."
In the 2004 video "Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land is a 2004 documentary by Sut Jhally and Bathsheba Ratzkoff which—according to the film's official website—"provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S...
" he shows the influence of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
and PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
on the United States public opinion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
.
In the 2004 video "Hijacking Catastrophe
Hijacking Catastrophe
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire is a 2004 documentary narrated by Julian Bond and directed by Jeremy Earp and Sut Jhally...
" he argues that the "war on terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
" has been used by U.S. officials as a pretext to project military power across the world.
In his 2006 video "Reel Bad Arabs" he explores the vilification of Arabs in American cinema, following Jack Shaheen
Jack Shaheen
Jack G. Shaheen is Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University. He was also a consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News....
's 2001 book Reel Bad Arabs
Reel Bad Arabs
Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People is a 2001 book by Jack Shaheen where he surveyed more than 900 film appearances of Arab characters. Of those, only a dozen were positive and 50 were balanced...
.
Video documentaries
- Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video (2007) (trailer)
- Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006), based on Jack ShaheenJack ShaheenJack G. Shaheen is Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University. He was also a consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News....
's 2001 book Reel Bad ArabsReel Bad ArabsReel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People is a 2001 book by Jack Shaheen where he surveyed more than 900 film appearances of Arab characters. Of those, only a dozen were positive and 50 were balanced...
(trailer) - Peace, Propaganda & the Promised LandPeace, Propaganda & the Promised LandPeace, Propaganda & the Promised Land is a 2004 documentary by Sut Jhally and Bathsheba Ratzkoff which—according to the film's official website—"provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S...
(with Bathsheba RatzkoffBathsheba RatzkoffBathsheba Ratzkoff is a film director, producer, and editor. She is the co-director of the 2004 documentary Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land...
), (2004) (full video) - Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American EmpireHijacking CatastropheHijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire is a 2004 documentary narrated by Julian Bond and directed by Jeremy Earp and Sut Jhally...
(with Jeremy Earp), (2004) (full video) - Wrestling with Manhood: Boys, Bullying & Battering (with Jackson KatzJackson KatzJackson T. Katz is one of America’s leading anti-sexist activists, and experts on violence, media and masculinities. An author, filmmaker, educator and social theorist, Katz has worked in gender violence prevention work with diverse groups of men and boys in sports culture and the military,...
) (2002) (trailer) - No Logo (2003), based on Naomi KleinNaomi KleinNaomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...
's book No LogoNo LogoNo Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is a book by Canadian author Naomi Klein. First published by Knopf Canada in January 2000, shortly after the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference protests in Seattle had generated media attention around such issues, it became one of the most influential books...
(full video) - Killing Us Softly 3 (with Jean KilbourneJean KilbourneJean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is a feminist author, speaker, and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising...
) (1999) (full video) - Tough Guise: Men, Violence and the Crisis in Masculinity (with Jackson KatzJackson KatzJackson T. Katz is one of America’s leading anti-sexist activists, and experts on violence, media and masculinities. An author, filmmaker, educator and social theorist, Katz has worked in gender violence prevention work with diverse groups of men and boys in sports culture and the military,...
) (1999) (trailer) - Off the Straight and Narrow (with Katherine Sender) (1998) (trailer)
- Advertising and the End of the World (1998) (trailer)
- Dreamworlds II: Desire, Sex, Power in Music Video (1997) (full video)
- Slim Hopes (with Jean KilbourneJean KilbourneJean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is a feminist author, speaker, and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising...
) (1995) (trailer) - The Date Rape Backlash (1994) (trailer)
- The Killing Screens (with George GerbnerGeorge GerbnerGeorge Gerbner was a professor of Communication and the founder of cultivation theory.Born in Budapest, Hungary, he immigrated to the United States in late 1939. Gerbner earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley in 1942...
) (1994) (trailer) - Pack of Lies - the Advertising of Tobacco (with Jean KilbourneJean KilbourneJean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is a feminist author, speaker, and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising...
) (1992) (trailer)
Books
- The spectacle of accumulation : essays in culture, media, & politics, (2006), ISBN 0820479047
- Social Communication in Advertising (with William LeissWilliam LeissWilliam Leiss, OC, FRSC was President of the Royal Society of Canada from 1999-2001.Born in Long Island, New York at the end of 1939, he grew up in rural Pennsylvania. He began his university education in New Jersey, at Fairleigh Dickinson University, graduating in 1956 with a B.A. summa cum laude...
, Stephen Kline, and Jacqueline Botterill), (2004), ISBN 04-159-667-60 - The Codes of Advertising (1999), ISBN 04-1590-353-X
- Enlightened Racism (with Justin LewisJustin LewisJustin Lewis is Professor of Communication and Head of the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. He returned to Britain in 2000, having worked for 12 years in the United States at the University of Massachusetts....
), (1992), ISBN 0813314194. Argues that The Cosby ShowThe Cosby ShowThe Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
reinforced the myth that Blacks who don't "make it" have only themselves to blame.
Articles
- Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse (in: Robin Andersen and Lance Strate (eds.), Critical studies in media commercialism, New York 2000)