[06
DEC 99] COVENTRY UNIVERSITY PRESS RELEASE
Coventry University Academic Likens War To Soap Opera
Coventry University lecturer Will Barton Catmur likens war to soap opera
in his contribution to the latest in the Communication, Culture and Media
subject group's research seminar series.
His paper, 'Theatre of War: High Culture and Popular Entertainment in
the Spectacle of Kosovo' claims that in the past propaganda was in the
service of war, but today wars are fought for the purpose of propaganda.
As a result, he suggests, we can understand contemporary conflicts more
clearly as a form of soap opera than as 'politics by other means'.
The 47-year-old lecturer, gave up a career in telecommunications to
return to academic life, studying psychology and teaching in colleges in
London before taking up his current post as a lecturer in the University's School of Art and Design.
He said:
"I know some people will think this is a rather flip response,
but really it is a serious point that I'm making. To paraphrase a great
French philosopher, in the contemporary world, you can only tell the
truth by being sarcastic."
The seminar, which is free and open to the public, takes place on
Wednesday, 8 December from 2.00-3.30pm, in Room MG17 in the School of Art and Design, Gosford Street, Coventry.
MORE INFORMATION:
Cyrrhian Macrae or Floyd Jebson 01203 838352
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