Book excerpt: Since the publication of the first edition of Movies as Mass Communication in 1980, cinema has been incorporated into academic discussions of the mainstream mass media. Most introductory `media and society' courses now include a section on the cinema. In this second edition, Professors Jowett and Linton address both the persistent tendency to position the cinema as a separate form of entertainment with a specialized audience, and the extensive interrelationships between the cinema and other media. The authors also examine the economic, sociological, psychological and political aspects of film.