NPF 552

Images are organized into presentations and exhibitions in books and periodicals, cinemas, concerts, plays and performances, at conferences and conventions, in galleries and museums, lectures and readings, on radio, television, closed-circuit systems and digital networks, in recordings and theatres. That is to say, images are produced and presented by an image industry. The course examines the image industry to understand its nature, functioning and operations, its relationship with image users and consumers, and its interaction with individual image-makers. The work of image-makers, and the image industry as a whole, takes place within a pluralistic cultural context of public- and private-sector entities which plan, organize, direct and control the image industry to produce high culture and mass media for audiences increasingly subject to market-place stratification and packaging.