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Cover image for book Public Representations

Public Representations

Screen Stories, Narrative, and the Public Sphere
By:Beth Herst; Sandford Borins
Publisher:University of Toronto Press
Print ISBN:9781487522957
eText ISBN:9781487518974
Edition:1
Copyright:2026
Format:Reflowable

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Public Representations explores how popular screen stories represent, and interact with, politics, governance, and the public sphere. It analyses a selection of recent films and broadcast, cable, and streaming series from the US and the UK, as well as a multi-decade survey of comparable Canadian films and series. Drawing on a wide range of interdisciplinary scholarship and popular media commentary, Public Representations considers questions of narrative representation, political agency, and conditions of screen story production as they intersect with race and gender.

Using a rich array of paratexts, including online and legacy media reviews, interviews, news reports and feature coverage, as well as metrics such as production budgets, box office figures, and awards, Public Representations traces the ways in which these screen stories function as frames of reference, and sites of contestation, for the most urgent issues within the contemporary public sphere.