Victoria E. Johnson

Associate Professor and Chair, Film & Media Studies School of Humanities
Ph.D., University of Southern California, Cinema-Television M.A., University of Southern California, Cinema Television B.A., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Humanities/Cinema Studies and Political Theory/Political Science

2218 Humanities Gateway
Department of Film and Media Studies
Irvine, CA 2435

Phone: (949) 824-3448 or (949) 824-8596
Email: v.e.johnson@uci.edu

Victoria E. Johnson teaches courses and conducts scholarly research on topics related to: Broadcast media theory, history and historiography; social and critical history of U.S. television and popular film; cultural studies; race, geography and popular media; popular music and scoring in film and television; sport culture; branding and identity; entertainment law and the construction of celebrity as property; media policy and rural access to communication technology.

She has published several articles regarding the politics of place, race, and popular music in anthologies and journals including The Revolution Wasn’t Televised: Sixties Television and Social Conflict, Spike Lee’s 'Do the Right Thing', Film Quarterly, The Velvet Light Trap, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, and online at In Media Res. Her book, Heartland TV: Prime Time Television and the Struggle for U.S. Identity, examines the imagination of the American midwest as symbolic Heartland in critical moments in prime-time television and U.S. social history.

Fields of Interest:
Critical History/Theory of U.S. Television and Film, Cultural Studies, Cultural Geography, Critical Race Theory, Sound and Music in Film/TV, Branding and Identity, Sport and Community, Media Policy and Law, Communication Technology and Rural Access

Publications
SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Books
Heartland TV: Prime Time Television and the Struggle for U.S. Identity(New York: New York University Press, 2008).

Book Chapters and Journal Articles
"Everything New Is Old Again: Sport Television, Innovation, and Tradition for a Multi-Platform Era," Beyond Prime Time: Television Programming in the Post-Network Era, Ed. Amanda D. Lotz (New York: Routledge, 2009): 114-137.

"Historicizing TV Networking: Broadcasting, Cable, and the Case of ESPN." Media Industries: History, Theory, and Method, Eds. Jennifer Holt and Alisa Perren (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009): 57-68.

"Racism and Television," African Americans and Popular Culture Ed. Todd Boyd (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008): 165-184.

"From Paradise Cove to the Precinct: Mapping The Rockford Files' Urban (Tele)Visions," Considering David Chase: Essays on The Sopranos, Northern Exposure, and The Rockford Files, ed. Thomas Fahy (Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 2007): 11-28.

"Broadcasting," The American Midwest, eds. Richard Sisson, Christian Zacher, and Andrew Cayton (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006): 939-942.

"'Welcome Home'? CBS, PAX-TV, and 'Heartland' Values in a Neo-Network Era," The Television Studies Reader, eds. Robert Allen and Annette Hill (London: Routledge, 2004): 404-417.

"Television and Civil Rights." Civil Rights in the United States, eds. Waldo E. Martin and Patricia Sullivan (New York: Macmillan, 2000): 719-721.

"Citizen Welk: Bubbles, Blue Hair, and Middle America," The Revolution Wasn't Televised: Sixties Television and Social Conflict. eds. Lynn Spigel and Michael Curtin (NY: Routledge, 1997): 265-285.

"Polyphony and Cultural Expression: Interpreting Musical Traditions in 'Do The Right Thing,'" Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, Ed. Mark A. Reid (NY: Cambridge University Press, 1997): 50-72.