Abstract This study examines the role that musical comedy on stage played in shaping popular culture long Edwardian period (1890–1914). It is based around two iconic theatrical types of period: Gaiety Girl and matinee idol. Historians have underestimated their importance what they represented. These are decoded as a way understanding development upon glamour, celebrity, fashion, display public ...

This dissertation concerns the relationship between the liberating potential of an individuals’ use of new media and the various institutional constraints on that. While I aim to explore the emancipatory potential of YouTube, I seek not to lose sight of the cultural, historical and political forces that limit individual use of it. This dissertation examines YouTube from agent, institution and t...