Listen to a sample
Videotape
Object Lessons (Related to this series)
- Author
- Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy
- Narrator
- Noe Nishizawa
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 2 October 2025
- Run Time
- 3 hours 40 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Object Lessons is a series of short books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Over the span of a single decade, VHS technology changed the relationship between privacy and entertainment, pried open the closed societies behind the Iron Curtain, and then sank back into oblivion.
Its meteoric rise and fall encapsulated the dynamics of the ‘80s and foreshadowed the seismic cultural shifts to come after the Cold War.
In the West, its advent deepened the trends of the age: individualism, consumerism, the fragmentation of society, and the consolidation of corporate power in the entertainment industry and its victory over the regulatory powers of the state. In the East, it encouraged new forms of socialization and economic
exchanges, while announcing the gradual crumbling of government control over the imagination of the people.
By the mid-1990s, the VHS format was displaced by the DVD. The DVD would eventually give way to streaming. Yet the cultural legacy of the videotape continues to inform our relationship to technology, privacy, and to entertainment.
Critics Review
-
As Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy’s incisive biography of this impactful technology reveals, over the span of a single decade, the VHS format changed the privileged relationship between privacy and entertainment, pried open the closed societies behind the Iron Curtain, and then mysteriously sank back into oblivion ... [This book is] enchanting and informative.
Critics at Large
-
Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy tells the story of how videotape – once an essential medium, now a nostalgia object – set us up for the current age of streaming platforms and interfaces.
Michael Z. Newman, author of Video Revolutions: On the History of a Medium (2014)
-
[A] celebration of the union between humanity and materiality ... In her vast memoir of experiences
with analogue technology, Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy takes on a Scheherazade-like
role, crafting a cabinet of curiosities in which the videotape weaves together audiences,
media industries, collective experiences, and a human presence within material forms.Philologia
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy
- Narrator
- Noe Nishizawa
- Duration
- 3 hours 40 minutes
- Release Date
- 2 October 2025
- ISBN
- 9798216437345
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Semiotics / semiology, Philosophy: aesthetics, Digital and information technologies: social and ethical aspects, Media, entertainment, information and communication industries
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Videotape by Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy by Noe NishizawaObject Lessons is a series of short books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Over the span of a single decade, VHS technology changed the relationship between privacy and entertainment, pried open the closed societies behind the Iron Curtain, and then sank back into oblivion.Its meteoric rise and fall encapsulated the dynamics of the ‘80s and foreshadowed the seismic cultural shifts to come after the Cold War.In the West, its advent deepened the trends of the age: individualism, consumerism, the fragmentation of society, and the consolidation of corporate power in the entertainment industry and its victory over the regulatory powers of the state. In the East, it encouraged new forms of socialization and economicexchanges, while announcing the gradual crumbling of government control over the imagination of the people.By the mid-1990s, the VHS format was displaced by the DVD. The DVD would eventually give way to streaming. Yet the cultural legacy of the videotape continues to inform our relationship to technology, privacy, and to entertainment.
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.