Here are several centrally important, multi-issue academic sites that can direct you to specific resources for the study or popular culture, and large commercial sites that provide extensive quick links to examples of popular culture and popular counter-cultures to examine.
- CineMedia. A mega directory/search engine with links to media sites in these categories: TV, Cinema, New Media, Radio Shows, Actors, Films, Directors, Networks, Video Studios, Theaters, Organizations, Magazines, Schools, Festivals, TV, Cinema, Production, Research, etc.
- E! Online. Large commercial site useful for exploring current pop culture trends and the rhetoric of celebrity.
- Entertainment Weekly (EW). A slightly more sophisticated and slightly more critical commercial site thanE!, theEWpages include a large archive of reviews and articles on all aspects of popular entertainment.
- Illuminations: The Critical Theory Website. Contains writings from specific theorists, especially within the Frankfurt School. Also has a large list of links.
- The Media and Communication Studies Site. An excellent, comprehensive resource developed by Daniel Chandler. Includes sections on different types of analysis (semiotics, textual analysis etc), different issues (race, gender and class etc.) and different forms (news, TV, film, etc.).
- Mediachannel. A global network of media issues affiliates. Includes a searchable database of articles from various sites on the web.
- MTV Movie and TV news, music, videos, celebrity gossip, etc.
- Pop Matters. Excellent general interest pop culture journal, with reviews, articles, and fine links.
- Theory.org. A more advanced media and cultural theory site that has a sense of humor (try collecting the “cool theorists trading cards,” for example).
- TV Tropes Amusing and insightful take on the recurring conventions and devices used in mainstream television programs.