1. Making sense of mass communication. Some scenarios ; Focal points in mass communication ; Defining our terms: mass ; Individualism and the mass media ; Defining our terms: communication ; Levels of communication ; Lasswell's communication model ; Gerbner's model of communication ; Jakobson's model of the communication process ; The Osgood-Schramm circular model ; The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and its implications for media study ; The play theory of mass communication ; A note on controversies ; Are media effects weak or powerful? ; Scholarly disputes in the study of mass communication ; A note on terms and definitions. -- 2. The artwork (or text) Rashomon: a synopsis ; The Rashomon phenomenon ; Analyzing and interpreting texts ; A semiotic interpretation of Rashomon ; A psychoanalytic interpretation of Rashomon ; A Marxist interpretation of Rashomon ; A feminist interpretation of Rashomon ; A sociological interpretation of Rashomon ; An ethical interpretation of Rashomon ; A myth/ritual/symbol interpretation of Rashomon ; An aesthetic interpretation of Rashomon ; A theoretical matter: the functions of texts ; Defining texts ; Understanding genres ; Content analysis. --

Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-196) and indexes.