The History of Television

Catalog description

This cultural history course examines not only the chronological development of television as a technology and an industry, but also how television has become a part of our own histories, shaping both historical events themselves and our understanding of them. Television is a primary source for the transmission of information, politics, entertainment, and our collective and dispersed cultures in the United States, at once both reflecting and constructing its historical contexts. Since its arrival on the scene at the World's Fair of 1939, TV has been a site through which we engage with any number of issues and events - from the most intimate to the most broadly social - and the impact of television has continued to evolve along with the medium itself.