Popular culture Books

Book SynopsisThe Palace of Culture and Science is a massive Stalinist skyscraper that was "gifted" to Warsaw by the Soviet Union in 1955. Author Michał Murawski traces the skyscraper's powerful impact on 21st century Warsaw, exploring the many factors that allow Warsaw's Palace to endure as a still-socialist building in a post-socialist city.Trade ReviewThe most brilliant book on a building in many years, making a case for Warsaw's once-loathed Palace of Culture and Science as the most enduring and successful legacy of Polish state socialism. -- Owen Hatherley * The New Statesman's "Books of the Year" list *The author of this remarkable work left Warsaw at six years old (in 1990) and has frequently revisited his birthplace. His book, the outcome of a Cambridge PhD, magnificently illustrated, often with the author's own photographs, traces the controversial history of its central building. -- Anthony Kemp-Welch * SLAVIC REVIEW *Warsaw has developed a very complex love-hate relationship with this astonishing building. In his Palace Complex Michał Murawski, a British leftist social anthropologist of Polish extraction, analyzes this relationship with great sophistication, playing on the double meaning of the word complex that signifies both something multifaceted and comprehensive and something indicative of a deep emotional entanglement that is only partially conscious. . . . [An] excellent book. -- Konstanty Gebert * AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST *[Murawski] makes a novel argument that departs from anthropologists' frequent focus on architectural failures, positing instead that the skyscraper can be seen as a case of a resounding success. This provocative argument, going against the received (or perceived) wisdom that socialism produced only unlivable and ineffective environments, rests on the persistence of the Palace's public character, in contrast to much of its urban context, which since 1989 has undergone a thorough (re)privatization. . . . The Palace Complex is a clear, engaging, and, at times, quite entertaining read. -- Vladimir Kulić * Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians *Michał Murawski's book is an ambitious anthropological biography of Poland's tallest and most infamous building, the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. . . . It is a truly fascinating story that challenges a tenacious stereotype, and Murawski tells it brilliantly, judiciously layering literatures from multiple disciplines, his own ethnographic work, and personal anecdotes. -- Patryk Babiracki * H-Net History *While the book has several theoretical interventions and themes (the gift dynamic, Althusser's work on ideology, debates on urban centres and periphery, to name a few), it is first and foremost a detailed narrative about the Palace and its extraordinariness. The author keeps introducing new exciting stories, details, characters and developments in the Palace's life (even in the Conclusion) and then some more come in the Epilogue, which focuses on the most recent relations of the Palace and the emphatically antipost- communist political regime of the 'Law and Justice' party. -- Anna Zhelnin * Anthropological Journal of European Cultures *Table of ContentsPreface: Politicized PerambulationsIntroduction: Palace Complex/Complex Palace1. The Planners: Conceiving the Palace Complex2. Public Spirit, or the Gift of Noncapitalism3. Designing Architectural Power: Scale, Style and Location4. Site-Specific: Varsovian Interpretations of the Palace5. Varsovianization: The Palace Complex After 19896. "The Center of the Very Center"7. The Extraordinary PalaceConclusion: Complex AppropriationsEpilogue: The Still-Socialist Palace and the War Against Post-CommunismAppendix: Palaceological Survey: Summary of ResultsBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis is a thought-provoking and enlightening, if in places frustrating, collection of interdisciplinary essays that will be of benefit to social scientists interested in consumer lifeworlds under communist rule. -- Gediminas Lankauskas, University of Regina * The Russian Review *The volume is a useful study of Eastern European consumption during socialism and an invaluable tool with which to think about writing the histories of consumerism and state socialism in general. The provocative conclusions regarding socialism's failures as reverse echoes of our world today, with its own tortured relation to consumption, should, one hopes, resonate beyond the confines of the fields of Eastern European and socialist history. -- Victor Petrov - University of Tennessee * H-Net (Socialisms) *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments1. The Pleasures of Backwardness / Zsuzsa Gille, Cristofer Scarboro, and Diana Mincytė2. Consuming Dialogues: Pleasure, Restraint, "Backwardness," and "Civilization" in Eastern Europe / Mary Neuburger3. Just Rewards: The Social Contract and Communism's Hard Bargain with the Citizen-Consumer / Patrick Hyder Patterson4. Conceptualizing Consumption in the Polish People's Republic / Brian Porter-Szűcs 5. Oranges and the New Black: Importing, Provisioning, and Consuming Tropical Fruits and Coffee in the GDR, 1971–1989 / Anne Dietrich6. VCRs, Modernity, and Consumer Culture in Late State Socialist Poland / Patryk Wasiak7. The Enchantment of Imaginary Europe: Consumer Practices in Post-Soviet Ukraine / Tania Bulakh8. The Late Socialist Good Life and its Discontents: Bit, Kultura, and the Social Life of Goods / Cristofer Scarboro9. The Prosumerist Resonance Machine: Rethinking Political Subjectivity and Consumer Desire in State Socialism / Zsuzsa Gille and Diana MincytėIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisPerfect for readers interested in film, American history, and Black entertainment history, Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen and its companion video website (susandelson.com) bring the important contributions of these Black artists into the spotlight once again.Trade ReviewEssential. In this comprehensive work, Delson locates soundies within cinema history. The book provides a fascinating exploration of performers, musicians, and filmmakers who contributed to these productions. Most revealing is Delson's assessment that soundies created images "that boldly contradicted Hollywood's usual depictions of Black people, in images of success, competence, and style" (p. 5)—a direct contrast to studio productions. According to Delson, soundies were historically significant because they impacted the social and cultural fabric of a racially divided America; they played a role in advancing the country's racial politics even when the country seemed reluctant to do so. This definitive study includes rarely seen photos and lists of performers, filmmakers, and titles. A fascinating resource for those interested in film, jazz, performance, WW II, race, Black film history, and socio-cultural history broadly. -- C. B. Regester, Univ. of North Carolina—Chapel Hill * Choice *Table of ContentsPart 1: Follow the MoneyIntroduction: Turning on a Dime1. Circa 1940: Race and the Pop-Culture Landscape2. Risky Business3. Starting in Hollywood, Heading to HarlemPart 2: Follow the Music4. Going to War 5. Encounter and Improvisation: Reimagining the City6. Rural Reverb7. Romance, Relationships, Legs8. One Performer, Ten Soundies: Another Look at Dorothy Dandridge9. Visual Music: Big Bands, Combos, Solo Musicians10. Backing into Integration11. Unplugged, with an AfterlifeAcknowledgmentsPart 3: Following UpAppendix 1: Directory of Black-Cast SoundiesAppendix 2: Performers and Their FilmsAppendix 3: Makers and Their FilmsBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"The Worlds of John Wick is a brilliant, wide-ranging, interdisciplinary, and theoretically savvy collection on one of the most compelling and successful phenomena of action cinema in recent years: the John Wick franchise. Using approaches ranging from the discussion of 'world-building' in the 'Wickverse,' to the films' striking use of games and play, and allusions to forms such as folklore and fairy tales, the contributors present a stellar case for (re-) engaging with these remarkable movies. The chapters offer groundbreaking readings referencing Frankfurt School 'Culture Industry,' gender performance and masculinity, and much more. Caitlin G. Watt and Stephen Watt are to be applauded for their bold, original, and exciting work."—Oliver Buckton, author of The World is Not Enough: A Biography of Ian Fleming, Florida Atlantic University"Especially because the John Wick franchise is largely viewed by the critical establishment as well-made, but fundamentally inconsequential, this volume is important in revealing the layers of meaning and significance."—James Kendrick, author of A Companion to the Action Film"This wide-ranging and thought-provoking collection of essays is essential reading. Its breadth and accessibility will appeal not only to fans of the John Wick franchise but also to anyone interested in film, gender studies, architecture, and popular culture as a whole."—David Schmid, Professor of English, University at Buffalo"The Worlds of John Wick explores the (first) three John Wick films. In fifteen richly referential essays, Caitlin and Stephen Watt and their contributors discuss the balletic fight choreography, allusive storytelling, underlying philosophies, folkloric roots, and more. An illuminating academic examination of one of the very best – and most popular – contemporary action film franchises."—Chris Holmlund, University of Tennessee, Knoxville"Through an inventive array of critical lenses, methodologies, and theoretical perspectives on gender, the body, and space and time, Watt and Watt's collection explicates the crucial importance of the John Wick franchise within contemporary action cinema, confirming its place alongside the enduring legacies of action cinema icons James Bond, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, and John Rambo."—Ian Kinane, editor of the International Journal of James Bond StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Worlds of John Wick, by Caitlin G. Watt and Stephen WattPart I: John Wick and Action Cinema1. Red Circle of Revenge: Anatomy of the Fight Sequence in John Wick, by Lisa Coulthard and Lindsay Steenberg2. Hidden in Plain Sight: Stunt-Craft Work in John Wick and the Networked Worlds of 87Eleven Action Design, by Lauren Steimer3. Killing in Equanimity: Theorizing John Wick's Action Aesthetics, by Wayne WongPart II: The Economies and Phenomenology of the Wickverse4. The Continental Abyss: John Wick vs. the Frankfurt School, by Skip Willman5. Bitcoin, Shitcoin, Wickcoin: The Hidden Phenomenology of John Wick, by Aaron JaffePart III: John Wick: Other Cultural Forms and Genres6. Fortune Favors the Bold: The State of Games and Play in the John Wick Films, by Edward P. Dallis-Comentale7. 'The One You Sent to Kill the Boogeyman': Folklore and Identity Deconstruction in the John Wick Universe, by Caitlin G. Watt8. Captain Dead Wick: Grief and the Monstrous in the John Wick and Deadpool Films, by Mary NestorPart IV: John Wick's Matrix: Space and Time9. Classical Orders, Modernist Revisions, Fantastical Expansions: Reading the Architecture of the John Wick Franchise, by Andrew Battaglia and Marleen Newman10. Out of Time and Going Sideways: John Wick, Time Traveler, by Charles M. Tung11. John Wick's Blank Cosmopolitanism and the Global Spatiality of the Wickverse, by Mi Jeong LeePart V: Gender and the Body in John Wick12. John Wick's Multiply Signifying Dogs, by Karalyn Kendall-Morwick13. Masculinity, Isolation, and Revenge: John Wick's Liminal Body, by Owen R. Horton14. Professionalism and Gender Performance in the John Wickverse, by Vivian Nun Halloran15. Style and the Sacrificial Body in John Wick 3, by Stephen WattBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWe enjoy laughing at The Room, but to stop there would reflect poorly on us as an audience. Something so singular and immense deserves loving attention and careful study, and that's what we find in this rich and delightful collection of essays. -- Matthew Strohl, author of Why It's OK to Love Bad Movies, Professor of Philosophy at the University of MontanaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Let's Toss the Ball Around, by Adam RosenPart I: Cliché and Convention, Misapplied1. Chris-R's Gun: The Room as an Unconscious Parody of Hollywood Film Conventions, by Carter Soles2. Do You Understand Life? Do You? Tommy Wiseau and the Anti-Method Acting Style, by James Curnow3. "She Can't Love Anyone": The Evil Women and Tormented Men of The Room, by Lenika CruzPart II: Unlocking The Room4. Is The Room Worse than Vertigo? The Aesthetic Philosophy of "So Bad it's Good", by James MacDowell5. Everybody Betray Me! Revenge, Reverse Revenge, and Slave Morality in The Room, by John Dyck6. Anything for My Princess: Using Don Quixote to Bring (Some) Coherence to The Room, by Adam Rosen7. Crypto-Wiseaulogy: Uncovering Stanley Kubrick, Jewishness, and Judaism in The Room, by Nathan AbramsPart III: Cult and the (Class)Room8. I Just Like to Watch You Guys: How Screenings of The Room Give People Permission to Perform, by Ellen Wright9. The Room in the Classroom: How I Use a Bad Movie to Teach Good Filmmaking, by Ross Morin10. For the Love of Cult, Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Build My Own Screening of The Room, by Amanda Ann KleinPart IV: Fan Reception11. How Can They Say This About Me? Riffing Johnny, Lisa, and Denny in Online Homebrew Commentaries of The Room, by Matt Foy12. "Can We Please Not Talk about James Franco?": How The Disaster Artist Threatened The Room's Fanbase, by John Donegan13. I'm Tired, I'm Wasted: The Room as a Waste of Time, by Ernest MathijsPart V: Constructing Tommy Wiseau14. Oh Man, I Just Can't Figure You Out: Building the Persona of Tommy Wiseau through The Disaster Artist, by Hario Satrio Priambodho15. I'm an American, Just Like You: The Room and American Cinema, Identity, and Masculinity, by Landon Palmer16. To Err Is Human, to Auteur, Divine: Tommy Wiseau as Auteur, by Renee Middlemost17. I Don't Have a Friend in the World: The Lonely Authenticity of Tommy Wiseau, by Keith Kahn-HarrisWorks CitedIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewCreating Identity makes a strong and original argument. It offers a new way to think about the romance novel and to explain its massive readership among women. -- Catherine Roach, author of Happily Ever After: The Romance Story in Popular CultureTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Who is the Romance Heroine and What Does She Want?1. Sexuality2. Gender3. Work4. Citizenship5. IntersectionsConclusionAfterwordAppendixBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewCreating Identity makes a strong and original argument. It offers a new way to think about the romance novel and to explain its massive readership among women. -- Catherine Roach, author of Happily Ever After: The Romance Story in Popular CultureTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Who is the Romance Heroine and What Does She Want?1. Sexuality2. Gender3. Work4. Citizenship5. IntersectionsConclusionAfterwordAppendixBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"This book does nothing less than stage a major reconsideration of one of cinema's most cherished and contested works. Collectively, these articles offer the reader an invigorating account of the complex intermedial and historiographic relations that can be generated by one movie over time. Whether rethinking what constitutes powerful acting, opening up new trajectories in the study of sex work on film and beyond, or activating a treasure trove of archival material, The Year's Work in Showgirl Studies is an indispensable book for scholars of cinema, performance, and culture."—Ryan Powell, author of Coming Together: The Cinematic Elaboration of Gay Male Life, 1945-1979"Smart, intricate and delightful, this collection does full justice to the complexities of camp through explorations of Showgirls, the most canonized of bad films. A true treat."—Susanna Paasonen,author of Carnal Resonance: Affect and Online Pornography

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"This book does nothing less than stage a major reconsideration of one of cinema's most cherished and contested works. Collectively, these articles offer the reader an invigorating account of the complex intermedial and historiographic relations that can be generated by one movie over time. Whether rethinking what constitutes powerful acting, opening up new trajectories in the study of sex work on film and beyond, or activating a treasure trove of archival material, The Year's Work in Showgirl Studies is an indispensable book for scholars of cinema, performance, and culture."—Ryan Powell, author of Coming Together: The Cinematic Elaboration of Gay Male Life, 1945-1979"Smart, intricate and delightful, this collection does full justice to the complexities of camp through explorations of Showgirls, the most canonized of bad films. A true treat."—Susanna Paasonen,author of Carnal Resonance: Affect and Online Pornography

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores race and class in mainstream representation of African American popular culture.Trade Review"With this book, Boyd has exponentially increased understanding of the cultural genesis and evolution of the "new" black aesthetics... The language has an "in-your-face" tone, yet it exemplifies the best in scholarly discourse. From start to finish readers will be mesmerized by the "new jack" style." - Choice "From how rap music relates to politics and black masculinity to differences between folk and popular culture in the black community, this provides much food for thought." - Midwest Book Review "Boyd ... fuses academic analysis with hipness in his compassionate and insightful dissection of how the media, especially Hollywood, define African American culture ... Boyd, compelling and thought-provoking, reveals how paradoxical life is for African Americans, even those at the top of their game." - BooklistTable of ContentsIntroduction: Representin' the Real Pg. 1Chapter 1: Real Niggaz Don't Die: Generational Shifts in Contemporary Popular Culture. Pg. 16Chapter 2: Check Yo Self Before You Wreck Yo Self: The Death of Politics in Rap Music and Popular Culture. Pg. 50Chapter 3: A Small Introduction to the 'G' Funk Era: Gangsta Rap and Black Masculinity in Contemporary Los Angeles. Pg. 80Chapter 4: Young, Black, and Don't Give a Fuck: Experiencing the Cinema of Nihilism. Pg. 109Chapter 5: True to the Game: Basketball as the Embodiment of Blackness in Contemporary Popular Culture. Pg. 141Epilogue: Some New Improved Shit. Pg. 173

Read more less

Book SynopsisDiscusses role of ohistoriesO in cultural studies.Trade ReviewIn my opinion, Meaghan Morris is perhaps the most original practitioner of cultural studies in the English-speaking world . . . Too Soon Too Late continues the effort to forge an original and experimental practice of cultural studies, and confronts one of the most interesting questions I can imagine: How does history function, not as an intellectual or academic enterprise, but as a popular practice and desire? What is the place of history in everyday life? In a series of sometimes bizarre but always beautiful, engaging and brilliantly insightful essays, Morris gives a new power to history and to language. * International Journal of Communication *

Read more less

Book SynopsisLooking at such figures as Nancy Drew, Judy Graves, Corliss Archer, Gidget, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Britney Spears, this book shows how popular culture has shaped our view of the adolescent girl as an individual who is simultaneously sexualized and infantilized. It explores the intersecting histories of adolescence, and popular culture.Trade ReviewNash's book is a fascinating and insightful look at the figure of the teenage American girl through the guise of popular culture. . . .Compelling and and persuasive, American Sweethearts goes a long way in showing where our mid-century views of teenage women came from, and, sadly, how those stereotypes still pervade our popular culture to this day. * Bloomsbury Review *. . . Nash . . . adds to growing body of work in 'girls' studies.' . . . Overall, this book makes a valuable contribution to this emergent field. . . . Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Radical Notions: Nancy Drew and Her Readers, 1930–19492. "Pretty Baby": Nancy Drew Goes to Hollywood3. "Delightfully Dangerous" Girls in the 1940s4. The Postwar Fall and Rise of Teen GirlsEpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores Carnival as a reflection of the nation and culture of Trinidad and Trinidadians worldwide. This work features nine essays that cover topics such as women in Carnival, the politics and poetics of Carnival, Carnival and cultural memory, Carnival as a tourist enterprise, the steelband music of Carnival, and more.Trade ReviewGreen and Scher carefully selected essays for this collection that reflect the identity crisis within the parent Trinidadian carnival, while paying special attention to the transnationalism of the offspring carnivals spread throughout the globe. . .[T]his collection initiates a discussion of how the ideology of national cultural forms is affected locally by global forces. Moreover, this essay collection examines the process by which carnival fosters and adapts to the changing nature of Caribbeaness on a global scale.64.4 June 2008 * NOTES: QTLY JRL MUSIC LIB ASSN *[E]ditors Garth L. Green and Philip W. Scher have gathered a thought-provoking collection of essays that extend our understanding of Trinidadian festivals and festival arts at home and abroad. * Journal of American Folklore *[The] editors . . . have assembled a fine collection of articles that examine the Trinidad Carnival as well as its transnational offshoots. . . . Through a thoughtful review of existing literature they persuasively argue for theoretical and methodological approaches that are sensitive to the multivalent nature of Carnival. 51 (2), 2009 * The World of Music *Anyone wishing to explore tradition, authenticity, community, identity, nation and transnation will be rewarded by reading this volume.Spring/ Summer 2010 * Western Folklore *. . . this book is a must-read for scholars and fans of West Indian culture and particularly Trinidad Carnival and its visual and musical components. It delivers a vast field of information from both a deep historical as well as a contemporary perspective.October 2009 -- John Nunley * H-AfrArts *This collection of essays is a fascinating look at contemporary Carnival as . . . a national and transnational institution. Many of the essays would be useful for readers interested in transnational movement of music and festivals, as well as in Carnival and the Caribbean specifically.August 25, 2009 -- David Lewis * Indiana University *. . . provides interesting and thought provoking reading. . . . [I]t would be valuable for higher level students at university and researchers who have a keen interest in transnational festivals and cultural tourism.Vol. 1.2 2009 -- Donna Chambers * University of Surrey *. . . Tracking the various forces that historically and contemporarily shape Carnival as event, ideology, national culture, and commodity, the essays in Trinidad Carnival never view Carnival through a single analytical lens. Indeed, they never yield a picture of a singular Carnival, a particular mas player. Rather, they show how 'specific Carnivals, specific masqueraders, and specific Carnival controversies are in motion, are well-traveled and circulate through the population not just of Trinidadians, but of Caribbean people everywhere, defining their Caribbean-ness while helping to change those definitions as new contexts arise' (Green and Scher 23). * Anthropological Quarterly *Table of ContentsContentsIntroduction: Trinidad Carnival in Global Context Garth L. Green and Philip W. Scher1. The Invention of Traditional Mas and the Politics of Gender Pamela R. Franco2. The Masquerader-Anthropologist: The Poetics and Politics of Studying Carnival Patricia A. De Freitas3. Authenticity, Commerce, and Nostalgia in the Trinidad Carnival Garth L. Green4. When "Natives" Become Tourists of Themselves: Returning Transnationals and the Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago Philip W. Scher5. Reading Caribana 1997: Black Youth, Puff Daddy, Style, and Diaspora Transformations Lyndon Phillip6. Carnival in Aruba: "A Feast of Yourself" Victoria M. Razak7. Creativity and Politics in the Steelband Music of Ray Holman Shannon Dudley8. "Will Calypso Doom Rock'n'Roll?": The U.S. Calypso Craze of 1957 Ray Funk and Donald R. Hill9. The Politics of Cultural Value and the Value of Cultural Politics: International Intellectual Property Legislation in Trinidad Robin BalligerAfterword Roger AbrahamsGlossary of TermsWorks CitedList of ContributorsIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe reinvention of identity in today's worldTrade Review"A provocative, original, and thoughtful writer, someone who addresses topics that are central to our culture from a fresh vantage point, and someone who is willing to challenge orthodoxies-right, left, and center-which prevent theorists of other stripes from seeing what's in front of their eyes." -Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence CultureTable of ContentsContentsSightingsPreface: Entertainment Is Dead, Long Live TransformationIntroductionSection 1. Self-Transformation in a Popular CultureSection 2. Traditional TransformationsSection 3. Status TransformationsSection 4. Modern TransformationsSection 5. Postmodern TransformationsConclusionAppendix: The Argument in a Single PageNotesAcknowledgmentsIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines the history of Italian celebrity culture and ponders the changing qualities of stardom. This book examines the phenomenon of the diva in the European cinema, the invention of new stars in the sound cinema, and the postwar impact on stardom through the introduction of changing forms of narration in popular genres.Trade ReviewWriting on the nexus of aesthetics and politics, Landy (Univ. of Pittsburgh) prefers the filmic text over extra-filmic elements. She describes how in the Italian silent cinema, the "diva" and "divo" bridged tradition and modernity; how, in 1930s sound films, the star fired popular culture fascination but was de-idealized; and how Mussolini used cinema to project his virile image. Then, writes the author, as neorealism reworked old genres it remade old stars and reconceived the male and female body. Anna Magnani typified the resurgence of stardom. In the popular genres in the 1950s, stars embodied the quest for national identity in the changing social milieu. In discussing the 1960s, Landy looks at the social concern of comedies and how international stars (e.g., Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Vittorio Gassman, Alberto Sordi, Monica Vitti) showed commonsense surviving in a threatening climate. Landy also discusses television, co-productions, the spaghetti western, horror films, and the emerging stardom of the director (Federico Fellini, Lena Wertmüller, Roberto Benigni, Dario Argento). A postscript proffers Italian President Silvio Berlusconi as televisual star, a wishful reflection of power and affluence. This comprehensive study of Italian stardom is closely argued, clearly written, and rich in detail and insight. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. -- ChoiceM. Yacowar, emeritus, University of Calgary, December 2008"Marcia Landy has produced a wonderful and in many ways path-breaking examination of the history of Italian stardom from silent film to the present.... The book is rich in stimulating observations and thought-provoking propositions. As with other works by Professor Landy it is the fruit of an ideal blend of theoretical insights and historically grounded film analysis." —Ruth Ben-Ghiat, New York UniversityTable of ContentsContents<\>AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Eloquent Bodies: The Cinema of Divismo2. The Stars Talk3. Stars amidst the Ruins: The Old and the New4. Popular Genres and Stars5. Starring Directors and Directing Stars: The Cinematic Landscape and Its Changing BodiesEpilogue: An End to Stardom?A PostscriptNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn anthology of essays that capture the spirit, zest, and cultural impact of Richard Pryor's complex artistry. It provides insight into his work to reveal how he simultaneously highlighted and embodied prominent narratives of race, gender, and social conditions in America in ways that enlighten and entertain.Trade ReviewMcClusky's contributions and other essays, specifically those by David Felton and Keith Harris, invite discussion on the ways Pryor transformed American comic style. . . . Recommended.March 2009 * Choice *McClusky's Life & Legacy Of . . . gathers together 20 essays and features on Pryor, ranging from retrospective cultural criticism, contemporary reviews and interviews and biographical features. Each tries to pinpoint exactly what made Pryor so important. . . March 2009 * Record Collector *. . . presents a variety of new and historical perspectives from scholars, filmmakers, and writers that yield insight into the comedian's origins, how he negotiated the difficult straits of the entertainment business, and what his work ultimately signified. . . . February/March 2009 * Bloom *Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Richard Pryor: Comic Genius, Tortured Soul / Audrey Thomas McCluskeyPart 1. New Essays1. "That Nigger's Crazy": Richard Pryor, Racial Performativity, Cultural Critique / Keith M. Harris2. The Crisis of Black Masculinity in Jo Jo Dancer: Your Life Is Calling / Margo Natalie Crawford3. Was It Something He Said? Censorship and the Richard Pryor Television Show, 1977 / Audrey Thomas McCluskey4. Richard Pryor and the Poetics of Cursing / Kate E. Brown5. Br'er Richard: Fascinatin' Storyteller / Maxine A. LeGall6. ". . . And It's Deep Too": The Philosophical Comedy of Richard Pryor / Malik D. McCluskey7. When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong: Pryor, Chappelle, and the Comedic Politics of the Post-Soul / Tyrone R. SimpsonPart 2. Biography8. Jump Street! From Richard Pryor: The Man behind the Laughter (1981) / Joseph Nazel9. The Politics of Being Black From If I Stop I'll Die: The Comedy and Tragedy of Richard Pryor (1991) / John A. Williams and Dennis A. Williams10. "He Wasn't Afraid to Get Naked in Front of People": Michael Schultz Remembers Richard Pryor / Audrey Thomas McCluskeyPart 3. Reviews11. Time Warp Movies: A Review of Superman III (1985) / Pauline Kael12. Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (1994) / Pauline Kael13. Richard Pryor: The Real Slim Shady (2001) / Rob SheffieldPart 4. Social and Cultural Criticism14. The New Comic Style of Richard Pryor (1975) / James Alan McPherson15. Jive Times: Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin, and the Theatre of the Routine (1974) / David Felton16. Richard and Me (1994) / Nelson George17. Hill Street Bullshit, Richard Pryor Routines, and the Real Deal (1997) / Bob Avakian18. Now's the Time: The Richard Pryor Phenomenon and the Triumph of Black Culture (1998) / Siva Vaidhyanathan19. A Pryor Love: The Life and Times of America's Comic Prophet of Race (1999) / Hilton Als20. Conclusion: We Owe a Debt to Richard Pryor / Audrey Thomas McCluskeySelected Chronology: The Life and Times of Richard PryorAdditional SourcesPermissions and CreditsList of ContributorsIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisA pioneering study of Indian comic book cultureTrade ReviewMcLain (religion, Bucknell Univ.) did exhaustive research on this topic, and here she captures the essence of India's most popular comic book series, 'Amar Chitra Katha,' known for its entertaining and educational renditions of Indian history, religion, and mythology. Besides interviewing ACK founder and publisher Anant Pai and ACK staff, the author visited Indian grocery stores, temples, and community centers in India, England, and the US to talk with the comics' many fans. She even worked in ACK offices in order to become more informed. She discusses ACK plots and how they were fashioned; their adherence to or deviation from the original stories; the historical and religious contexts in which they were retold; and the reactions of parents, educators, and fans. McLain discusses some controversies concerning ACK, such as its portrayals of women and Muslims, but she seems to pull back from delving fully into the negative appraisals of the comic books. This study is welcome both for the author's care with her subject and for its affirmation that the comics can be an important medium--in this case, one that helped define Hinduism and Indianness to younger generations of Indians. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. -- ChoiceJ. A. Lent, Temple University, January 2010"In India’s Immortal Comic Books... Karline McLain argues that the Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) comic book series represents a form of public culture through which creators and readers participate in national and religious discourse.... This analysis of India’s first major comics publisher invigorates folklore and comic art by illustrating their essential role in creating and revising national and religious identity." —Jeremy Stoll, Journal of Folklore Research"[O]riginal both in content and in the kinds of sources that are brought to bear on the subject... Students of popular culture, contemporary religion, and anthropology will all learn a great deal from McLain's study." —Lisa Trivedi, Hamilton College"McLain's two greatest contributions may be her discussion of religious iconography and the meaning of secularism in India." —Uppinder Mehan, American Book Review"I’ve never taught an introductory Hinduism class without finding that for many Hindu students, Amar Chitra Katha had taught the course long before me. It’s a formidable canon, and like every 'Bible' it’s not just inspirational but, on reflection, controversial. In this absorbing study, Karline McLain takes the comics seriously, showing us the faces behind the pages and tracing the global impact of this culturally crucial medium and text." —John Stratton Hawley, Barnard College, Columbia University"McLain shines a light on Anant Pai and his staff at ACK to really examine the motivations behind creating the comics. Was it just about educating children or were there other motivations?... [L]ike the famed author of A People’s History of the United States (1980), she does aim to create a public awareness of how history is told, albeit in India." —Shyam K. Sriram, PopMatters"... ACK (Amar Chitra Katha) is excellent for its popular format (comics), its enduring history and appeal—and its accessibility." —Not Just Books blog"What McLain repeatedly heard from ACK [Amar Chitra Katha] readers is that the comic books seemed to almost radiate a spiritual force. In many households, other comics were seen as a waste of time and discarded, but ACK was preserved carefully. Grandmothers covered them with those brown wrappers used to cover school textbooks to keep them clean. Nieces and nephews inherited bound volumes from uncles and aunts..." —The Hindu"McLain (religion, Bucknell Univ.) did exhaustive research on this topic, and here she captures the essence of India's most popular comic book series, 'Amar Chitra Katha,' known for its entertaining and educational renditions of Indian history, religion, and mythology.... This study is welcome both for the author's care with her subject and for its affirmation that the comics can be an important medium—in this case, one that helped define Hinduism and Indianness to younger generations of Indians.... Recommended." —Choice, January 2010"... Almost every reader of Amar Chitra Katha interviewed here has spoken of the spiritual force the comics radiate—this, Karline McLane notes, is unique in the history of comic books. Which is one, among many reasons, why these comics will always be beloved not just to Indians but be special to comic book lovers everywhere." —Businessworld"The careful and extensive research, insightful analysis, and the very lucid, accessible, and engaging style of writing, all go toward making this a very enjoyable read.... It is an excellent resource for scholars exploring popular forms of contemporary Hindusim, and the role of modern mass media in both capturing, and shaping, Hindu sensibilities in a modern transnational context." —Journal of Religion and Popular Culture"... fun to read and a rewarding work of scholarship on the origins, history and influence of Amar Chitra Katha." —The Sampradaya Sun"It is clear that by following along with the comic book series, one can easily learn about many aspects of Indian culture and history, in a more fun and visual way, than a regular textbook. And this is the ultimate goal of the book - to show how much can be learned from comics, if the reader actually takes the time and digs a little deeper once in a while. It is fascinating how much tangible information is included in these graphic stories. ... This book provides great insight into Indian culture." —Andrey Bilko, Rebecca's Reads"[T]his beautifully produced volume will not disappoint. Indiana University Press has supported McLain in publishing a book that is a visual delight, sporting an attractive layout and plentiful reproductions, in both color and black and white, of the comics. In today's era of digital publishing, this is a pleasure that is not to be taken for granted." —Journal of the American Academy of Religion"The Rama comic book features a muscular, bare—chested, blue—tinged hero on its cover, posed with bow and arrow drawn. A beautiful, fair—skinned woman with long dark tresses watches with wonder as Rama, the hero, takes aim.... [Although] in many ways akin to American comic book superheroes such as Superman and Captain America, Rama is not your average fictitious superhero. He is a god in human form, and the Rama comic book is a Hindu devotional story told through the comic book medium." —from the Introduction"The book’s clear prose will appeal to those teaching popular visual culture at the undergraduate level, as well as fans of ACK in India and around the world, many of whom participated in McLain’s study... The book shines at moments when McLain relies on and shows her scholarly apparatus while maintaining an eye on her broader audience: her discussion of the machinations related to artist, popular religion, and text in the production of the Tales of Durga; or her clear narration of complex caste disputes over the representation of Shivaji starting in the nineteenth century (121–31).India's Immortal Comic Books is a welcome addition to the growing interdisciplinary analyses of India's popular culture." —caa.reviews"In this intriguing study, [the author] explores the making of comic books and the kinds of editorial and ideological choices that go into their production." —IndologicaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNotes on StyleIntroduction: Comic Books that Radiate a Spiritual Force1. The Father of Indian Comic Books2. Long-Suffering Wives and Self-Sacrificing Queens3. Accurately Sequencing Goddess Durga's Mythology4. The Warrior-King Shivaji in History and Mythology5. Muslims as Secular Heroes and Zealous Villains6. Mahatma Gandhi as a Comic Book HeroConclusion. The Global Legacy of Amar Chitra KathaNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores the allure of Cash's contradictory personaTrade ReviewEdwards' exploration . . . is nothing short of fascinating. The book provides in-depth analyses and challenges readers to think critically about 'Johnny Cash' (as well as Johnny Cash), a symbol that has been extremely important and influential in pop culture, but one that has not been widely written about as such.May 27, 2009 -- Jason Buel * PopMatters *[T]his volume is an important contribution to the theoretical literature connecting country music with the American character. . . . Recommended.August 2009 * Choice *Johnny Cash . . . is a captivating, deeply analytical . . . portrait of the paradox of American identity and Johnny Cash. Edwards illustrated how the model of ambivalence is a vital paradigm for American popular music and American identity in general. June 19, 2009 * SirReadaLot.org *In Edwards's hands, Johnny Cash . . . is transformed into a mirror through which we can examine southern, working-class identity. What emerges is a reflective portrait of our own contradictions. . . . This book richly deserves exploration, less for what it can teach its readers about Johnny Cash than for what it invites its readers to contemplate about themselves. * Southern Cultures *Leigh H. Edwards's Johnny Cash the Paradox of American Identity offers a wideranging study of a compelling figure in American popular culture, and will be of interest to both fans of Johnny Cash and scholars in the fields of popular music studies, gender studies, and American studies.... Edwards aims to show that Cash's long and multifaceted career exists along the fault line of 'key foundational contradictions in American thought'. . . . It says much of both Cash's career and Edwards's skill as a writer that Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity manages to deliver on that ambitious premise. * Journal of American Studies *One book representing the new wave of country music studies is Leigh H. Edwards's Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity. Edwards takes an American icon of country music and places him solidly in the field of American cultural history, dealing with such timeless subjects as class, masculinity, and religion. Keenly engaged in interdisciplinary work, Edwards is speaking to a wide range of scholars, and cultural historians have much to learn from this approach. Of particular interest is her discussion of audiences – long a difficult subject for scholars of all stripes to write about effectively – and how those audiences have responded to Cash's very American persona.... In short, Cash makes for an intriguing subject of analysis, and Edwards's nuanced treatment reveals the work of a practiced cultural historian. * History Compass *Edwards' astute study reveals how Cash transcended the role of singer/musician and transformed into an iconic representation of America itself, full of contradictions, bluster, and large-than-life imagery.June 2010 * The Journal of American Culture *This is a fascinating book, one of very few in the immense outpouring of ink on Cash to take a fully analytical stance toward his work . . . and certainly the most comprehensive and cohesive. Covering fifty years' worth of texts by an artist as prolific as Cash is an ambitious project, particularly if one hopes, as Edwards does, to read them in socio-historical context. She does a remarkable job of placing Cash in larger American studies and media studies frameworks . . . * Journal of Popular Music Studies *Edwards's Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity is an exemplary study, setting a new standard for popular music scholarship that calls for a fundamental reassessment of the common tropes of country music and country music scholarship. December 2010 * Notes *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Cash as Contradiction1. "What Is Truth?" Authenticity and Persona2. "A Boy Named Sue": American Manhood3. Gender and "The Beast in Me": Ramblers and Rockabillies4. Race and Identity Politics5. Man in Black: Class and National Mythologies6. The Gospel Road: Cash as Saint and SinnerConclusion: "God's Gonna Cut You Down": Cultural LegaciesNotesWorks CitedIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisUsing high concept as a framework for the analysis of the 2003 coverage of the Iraq War - paying close attention to how Fox News and CNN packaged and promoted the US invasion of Iraq - this book offers a fresh paradigm for understanding how television news reporting shapes our perceptions of events.Trade ReviewThe author's thorough documentation and careful analysis will be most appreciated by students of journalism or communications, as an understanding of communications theory is helpful, but readers seriously following current events may be interested as well. * Library Journal *. . . a thoughtful commentary and critique of the state of the cable news component of early-21st-century journalism. . . . Highly recommended.May 2010 * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Spectacle of Televised War1. High Concept, Media Conglomeration, and Commercial News2. The High-Concept War Narrative3. Intertextuality, Genres, and Stars4. War Characters5. The Look and Sound of High-Concept War Coverage6. The Marketing of the 2003 Invasion of IraqConclusion: The Narrative Exits Screen Right, the Coverage Fizzles, and News is What, Exactly?Appendix AAppendix BAppendix CWorks CitedIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTraces the origins of American cinema's century-long fascination with Italy and Italian immigrants to the popularity of the pre-photographic aesthetic - the picturesque.Trade ReviewBertellini situates early cinema within a broad geopolitical framework that 'calls for a reconsideration of race as a long-lasting visual form' and invites the film scholar to reexamine the medium's specificity. This makes Italy in Early American Cinema a seminal contribution to the field of cinema studies. June 2011, Vol. 31:2 * Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television *The book is beautifully illustrated and its sources are often spectacular. Bertellini finds historical evidence where previous researchers found none. . . . Unlike much of recent film historical research, which remains confined to a rather empirical presentation of previously unknown documents, Bertellini wants to insert these archives into a rich interdisciplinary, long-term development. July - December 2010 * Altreitalie *Bertellini's Italy in Early American Cinema is simply an extraordinary achievement. . . . He has been meticulous and indefatigable in discovering a wealth of original historical source material and honed and re-honed the text into an exemplary model of lucid, sophisticated, critical historical analysis. Vol. 22, 2010 * Film History *Bertellini's sophisticated interdisciplinary study addresses questions of race moving between Italy and America in the prehistory and early history of film. . . . Bertellini's persuasive thesis that identity-formation works, among other things, through the picturesque, provides a further explanation for our persistent need for a local aura of realist 'authenticity' in our idea of what Italian cinema should give us. July 2011 * Times Literary Supplement *Bertellini has done a great service not just to scholars of American film, but also to the Italian-American citizen, by concentrating on this overlooked, but rich vein of American culture. August 2010 * Fra Noi *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Transatlantic Racial Culture and Modern Visual ReproductionsPart 1. Picturing Italy's Natural and Social Landscapes 1. Picturesque Mode of Difference 2. The Picturesque Italian South as Transnational CommodityPart 2. Picture-Perfect America 3. Picturesque Views and American Natural Landscapes 4. Picturesque New York 5. Black Hands, White Faces 6. White Hearts 7. Performing GeographyAfterword: "A Mirror with a Memory"NotesFilmographyBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisSatire and new media in the American political landscapeTrade ReviewSaitre and Dissent redefines what it means to agree to disagree and so is a worthy addition to the literature on contemporary satire and poliltical humor. * Rhetoric & Public Affairs *In this compelling new book, Day manages to not only persuasively argue why political satire has gained such a foothold in our popular culture, but also convincingly argues why it matters. July 2011 * liminalities.net *Satire and Dissent is an intriguing dissection of concourse in American society today and its impact on the the politics of the people.June 2011 * The Midwest Book Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments1. Introduction: Poking Holes in the Spectacle2. Ironic Authenticity3. Truthiness and Consequences in Parodic News4. Heroes and Villains: Satiric Documentarians Spearhead the Debate5. Irony in Activism6. Moving beyond CritiqueNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores popular religious music and dance from the CaribbeanTrade ReviewIn addition to its ample contribution to scholarship on the Caribbean and its musical practices, colonial-, and post-colonial histories, de Jong makes valuable contributions to a number of scholarly literatures concerned with Afro-Caribbean performance practices. * The World of Music *De Jong emphasizes 'tambu's' role as a medium of memory, cultural and political commentary, and commemorative history.Fall / Winter 2015 * Latin American Music Review *Overall, this volume in Indiana University Press's Ethnomusicology Multimedia series is an important contribution to Caribbean ethnomusicology and studies of creolization processes. * New West Indian Guide *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction/Introducktorio: Get Ready! / Poné Bo Kla!Part 1. Habri: Here It Is, the History of Tambú! / Até Aki, Historia di Tambú! 1. The Story of Our Ancestors, the Story of Africa / E Kuenta di Nos Antepasados, e Kuenta di Afrika 2. Told through the Fierce Rhythms of the Drum / Kontá pa e Ritmonan Furioso di su Barí 3. The Laws Couldn't Keep Tambú Away. The Church Couldn't Keep Tambú Away. / Leinan No Por a Tene Tambú Lew. Misa No Por a Tene Tambú Lew.Part 2. Séru: Get Ready! Get Ready! / Poné Bo Kla! Poné Bo Kla! 4. Prepare for the Arrival of Our Ancestors / Prepará Bo pa e Jegada di Nos Antepasados 5. Clap Your Hands! / Bati Bo Mannan! 6. Come for the Party / Bin na e FiestaConclusion/Conclui: Are You Ready? Are You Ready to Hear the History of Tambú? / Bo Ta Kla? Bo Ta Kla pa Tende e Historia di Tambú?Glossary of Terms Referring to TambúBibliographyList of InterviewsIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisRethinking globalisation through musicTrade Review[O]ne of the great strengths of this collection is its ambiguous location of a music often situated rather schematically in a given historical and cultural matrix. Recognition of the political ambiguities makes a welcome shift from some of the more strident positions that have been taken up in public and even scholarly discourse surrounding World Music. . . . The value of this collection extends far beyond World Music. * Journal of World Popular Music *[C]ontains many valuable case studies of musical encounters demonstrating the ways music-making both structures and yet provides space for human agency. * Music & Letters *Music and Globalization is a responsible interdisciplinary endeavor characterized by the presentation of serious engagements with music and complex ethnography. Most of the authors address critical issues proposed by postcolonial/subaltern theory and critical political economy with notable courage. * Research in African Literatures *Music and Globalization productively contributes to over two decades of scholarship in the anthropology of music and in ethnomusicology . . . It is a rich collection and deserves attention from specialists and nonspecialists alike; it will be useful in both graduate and undergraduate curriculums across multiple disciplines (anthropology, ethnomusicology, critical music studies, and media studies). * American Ethnologist *'Music and Globalization' includes stimulating contributions, such as Barbara Browning's discussion of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Gilberto Gil in relation to metaphoric and literal forms of 'infectiousness'; Richard Shain's examination of Laba Sosseh's project of Cubanising African popular music; and Daniel Noveck's pondering of beliefs mediated through the place of the violin in the lives of Ramámuri people in southern Chihuahua.June 2012 -- Julian Cowley * The Wire *Table of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Rethinking Globalization through Music / Bob W. WhitePart 1. Structured Encounters 1. The Musical Heritage of Slavery: From Creolization to "World Music" / Denis-Constant Martin 2. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts: "World Music" and the Commodification of Religious Experience / Steven Feld 3. A Place in the World: Globalization, Music, and Cultural Identity in Contemporary Vanuatu / Philip Hayward 4. Musicality and Environmentalism in the Rediscovery of Eldorado: An Anthropology of the Raoni-Sting Encounter / Rafael José de Menezes BastosPart 2. Mediated Encounters 5. "Beautiful Blue": Rarámuri Violin Music in a Cross-Border Space / Daniel Noveck 6. World Music Producers and the Cuban Frontier / Ariana Hernandez-Reguant 7. Trovador of the Black Atlantic: Laba Sosseh and the Africanization of Afro-Cuban Music / Richard M. ShainPart 3. Imagined Encounters 8. Slave Ship on the Infosea: Contaminating the System of Circulation / Barbara Browning 9. World Music Today / Timothy D. Taylor 10. The Promise of World Music: Strategies for Non-Essentialist Listening / Bob W. WhiteIndexContributors

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“This is by far the best piece of scholarship I have read on the subject of the Mexican picaresque, and that includes the book I wrote on the subject. It includes brilliant re-evaluations of many classic picaresque narratives from Mexico but also includes equally brilliant analyses of more recent narratives.” —Timothy G. Compton, author of Mexican Picaresque Narratives"This smart, spirited book is more than a monograph with one bright idea. Readers across fields in the humanities will find leads and provocations informed by big thinkers beyond the inevitable Ångel Rama. . . . The book is rich in ideas about how literature is produced and about picaresque narratives as ‘fictions of liberation from the labor process’ that are yet basically conservative in outlook." —Hispanic American Historical ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Genealogies 2. Value 3. Colonialism 4. Bodies Epilogue: National Literatures, Global Contexts

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrug Lords, Cowboys, and Desperadoes examines how historical archetypes in violent narratives on the Mexican American frontier have resulted in political discourse that feeds back into real violence.The drug battles, outlaw culture, and violence that permeate the U.S.-Mexican frontier serve as scenery and motivation for a wide swath of North American culture. In this innovative study, Rafael Acosta Morales ties the pride that many communities felt for heroic tales of banditry and rebels to the darker repercussions of the violence inflicted by the representatives of the law or the state. Narratives on bandits, cowboys, and desperadoes promise redistribution, regeneration, and community, but they often bring about the very opposite of those goals. This paradox is at the heart of Acosta Morales's book.Drug Lords, Cowboys, and Desperadoes examines the relationship between affect, narrative, and violence surrounding three historical archetypessocial banTrade Review“Drug Lords, Cowboys, and Desperadoes is a theoretically engaged tour-de-force that offers new interpretations of classic and subcultural texts depicting the borderlands.” —Jason Ruiz, author of Americans in the Treasure House“Drug Lords, Cowboys, and Desperadoes touches on very important themes for the recent political and social conditions of Mexico. It also calls attention to the discourses that historically have produced a sense of entitlement and racial superiority in the U.S. and the manner in which these have manifested themselves against the other, specifically, against Mexicans.” —Fernando Fabio Sánchez, author of Artful AssassinsTable of ContentsIntroduction. Affective Assemblages: People And The Stories We Love 1. Drug Lords: Capital And Social Banditry 2: Cowboys: Weaponized Trauma 3. Desperadoes: Illegal Representativity Afterword. To Dream The Stories Untold

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom sixteenth-century European Wunderkammern to the veneration of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Latinization of the United States, this dynamic and innovative book explores how the circulation of objects between Europe and the Americas has profoundly reTrade ReviewMisplaced Objects is an erudite, elegantly narrated, historically wide-ranging, and genuinely transdisciplinary exploration that should transform contemporary understandings of the Americas in numerous fields. * The Comparatist *Table of Contents Preface Introduction: Misplaced Objects and Subject Matters Part I: The Object as Specimen 1. Misplaced Objects from the Americas and the Emergence of the European Wunderkammern 2. Transatlantic Subject Matters and Big Bones: The Real Gabinete de Historia Natural de Madrid 3. Writing the Natural History of Our Destruction: From P. T. Barnum's National Histrionics to Contemporary, Post-Apocalyptic Wunderkammern Part II: Migrating Icons and Sacred Geographies in the Americas 4. GuadalupeNation: Disappearing Objects, National Narratives 5. Guadalupe's Wheels: Runaway Image, Undocumented Border Crosser, Miracle Worker 6. The New Mexico/New Mestizo Effect: Enchanted and Otherwise Enacted Spaces Part III: Found Objects and Re-Collecting Subjects 7. Re-Collecting the Past: Latinidad's Found Objects, Photographs, and Home Altars 8. Sandra Ramos and the Cuban Diaspora: La vida no cabe en una maleta Epilogue Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisFilled with insights into the works of Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Rhys, and John Dos Passos, this is a provocative new reading of the relationship between modernist literature and the development of celebrity culture in the early twentieth century.Trade ReviewGoldman's thesis is ably pursued and very useful. He situates 'celebrity' as the 'missing link' between high and low culture in modernism, and I think he has a point. * James Joyce Quarterly *Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Modernism Is the Literature of Celebrity Critical Problem Solving: Modernism and Popular Culture The Field of Modernism and the Culture of Celebrity Considering Celebrity Why Modernism Is the Literature of Celebrity 1. Oscar Wilde, Fashioning Fame Copying Oneself Judging By Appearances in Dorian Gray The Tragic Commodity Deep Thoughts: Embodying the Subject in De Profundis 2. James Joyce and Modernist Exceptionalism Styling the Author "Peeping and prying into greenroom gossip of the day" "Famous Son of a Famous Father": Author, Character, Holy Ghost The Dream of Immateriality E.T.: The Extra-Textual The Ghost of the Author 3. Gertrude Stein, Everybody's Celebrity Elite By Association Unstable Values The Trademark of Time Name of Constant Value A Democracy of One 4. Charlie Chaplin, Author of Modernist Celebrity Happy Endings An Author Is Born Sign of the Times The Object of Celebrity 5. Rhys, the Obscure: The Literature of Celebrity at the Margins That Obscure Abject of Desire Bildung in the Dark The Hidden Rhys Wide Sargasso City Posthuman Beings Celebrity on the Margins Epilogue. "Everybody who was anybody was there": After Modernism, After Celebrity, John Dos Passos The Camera, I The In Crowd Stein and They, Hemingway U.S.A. and Hem Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis colorful examination of “translated” television characters in Italy looks at the implications for transnational intersections of commerce and culture.Trade Review"Since When Is Fran Drescher Jewish? is a timely contribution to the field of contemporary Italian media studies and provides a media-industry perspective on the translation, adaptation, and dubbing of foreign audiovisuals into the Italian national context. Ferrari's book represents a good point of departure for anyone who desires to begin an investigation of the complexities of audiovisual translations."--Giulia Centineo, University of California, Santa Cruz, Italian American ReviewTable of Contents Foreword by Joseph Straubhaar Acknowledgments Introduction. Since When Is Fran Drescher Jewish? Chapter One. Nation in Translation: The (Im)Possibility of the Local? Chapter Two. Indigenizing Texts: Television Translation as Cultural Ventriloquism Chapter Three. Dubbing Yiddish, Hidden Rabbi: The Nanny in Translation Chapter Four. Dubbing The Simpsons: Or How Groundskeeper Willie Lost His Kilt in Sardinia Chapter Five. The Sopranos in Italy: Or "Why Should We Care? We Have the Real Mafia Here!" Conclusion. Translating Stereotypes: The Cultural Politics of Reformatting Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn examination of the turbulent, transformative 1970s through the lens of central Texas's counterculture, from the cosmic cowboys of the Armadillo World Headquarters to Américo Paredes and the performance folklore movement.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction. “Too Much Ain’t Enough,” or, The Texan in the Late Twentieth Century 1. The Empire of Texas: Lone Star Regionalism Sets the Stage, 1936–1968 2. Home with the Armadillo: Austin’s Progressive Country Music Scene 3. This New Cross Between Baba Ram Dass and Sam Bass: Cosmic Cowboydom and the 1970s 4. The Vanishing Texan: The Party of the Fathers Realigns 5. You a Real Cowboy? Texas Chic in the Late Seventies Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisBefore Austin became the “live music capital of the world” and attracted tens of thousands of music fans, it had a vibrant local music scene that spanned late sixties psychedelic and avant-garde rock to early eighties punk. Venues such as the Vulcan Gas Company and the Armadillo World Headquarters hosted both innovative local musicians and big-name touring acts. Poster artists not only advertised the performances—they visually defined the music and culture of Austin during this pivotal period. Their posters promoted an alternative lifestyle that permeated the city and reflected Austin’s transformation from a sleepy university town into a veritable oasis of underground artistic and cultural activity in the state of Texas.This book presents a definitive survey of music poster art produced in Austin between 1967 and 1982. It vividly illustrates four distinct generations of posters—psychedelic art of the Vulcan Gas Company, early works from the ArmadTrade ReviewShowcases a slice of [the city’s long celebration of live music]. * The Wall Street Journal *A sprawling illustrated monument to Austin music and culture. * PopMatters *Clubs close and are torn down. Bands break up. But posters endure as a history to admire. * Texas Highways *Table of Contents Preface It All Started Here (Joe Nick Patoski) Colorful Tales and Early Techniques: Postering in Austin (Nels Jacobson) The Posters Vulcan Gas Company Blues Portraits Reimagining Texas Traveling Bands Punk and the New Waves List of Posters Bibliography Acknowledgments

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Once again I repeat that I am not an impartial; objective critic. My judgments are nourished by my ideals, my sentiments, my passions. I have an avowed and resolute ambition: to assist in the creation of Peruvian socialism. I am far removed from the academic techniques of the university.'—From the Author''s NoteJose Carlos Mariátegui was one of the leading South American social philosophers of the early twentieth century. He identified the future of Peru with the welfare of the Indian at a time when similar ideas were beginning to develop in Middle America and the Andean region. Generations of Peruvian and other Latin American social thinkers have been profoundly influenced by his writings.Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana), first published in 1928, is Mariátegui''s major statement of his position and has gone into many editions, not only in Peru but also in other LatTrade Review...one of the most important books in Peruvian letters ... * Choice *Table of Contents Introduction by Jorge Basadre Author’s Note 1. Outline of the Economic Evolution 2. The Problem of the Indian 3. The Problem of Land 4. Public Education 5. The Religious Factor 6. Regionalism and Centralism 7. Literature on Trial Glossary Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPreface: Breaking User Silence Acknowledgments Introduction | We Are All Users 1. Picture a Drug User Jim: Feeding My Family Mordecai: Normal Ella: Time 2. Criminalization: Winning the Crusade but Losing the War Jason: The Little Engine That Could Marcus: Reflections of a Philosopher-Cop on the Drug War 3. Medicalization: Defining Drug Use Lucius: Not What You Think Nadine: Like a Storm Jose: The Cure Brittany: Ask Your Doctor 4. Why We Use: The Pleasure and the Eros of Drugs Bonnie: Evening Smoke Cosmo: What Could Be Mark: It’s Not What, It’s How Kyla: Note from a Socially Integrated Drug User Conclusion Notes Glossary Selected Bibliography Index

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTarquini offers a rich and stimulating synthesis, the best single-volume work available on this complex and challenging subject. This history reveals how the fascists used culture to build a conservation revolution that purported to protect what was good in the traditional social fabric while presenting itself as oriented toward the future.Table of Contents Contents Note to the New Edition Introduction 1. The Historiographical Debate from 1945 to Today 2. 1920s Cultural Politics 3. Intellectuals and Artists in the 1920s 4. The Ideology of the Totalitarian State 5. Cultural Politics in the 1930s 6. 1930s Intellectuals and Artists 7. Cultural Politics and Intellectuals in the 1940s Conclusion Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhy it is a mistake to let commercial entertainment serve as America's de facto ambassador to the worldTrade Review“Bayles points to the elephant in the room that is ignored in all other discussions of public diplomacy in general and cultural diplomacy in particular: the overwhelming role of commercial mass culture. I know of no other book that shows its lopsided influence, for good or ill. An extremely intelligent mix of reporting, analysis, and policy prescription.”—Robert Asahina, author of Just Americans: How Japanese Americans Won a War at Home and Abroad -- Robert Asahina“This is a very good book—informative, witty, and thought-provoking. Noting that America’s image abroad has been driven by American popular culture since the end of the Cold War, often with adverse results, Bayles advocates compellingly for a revival of ‘public diplomacy.’ She concludes with a set of very hands-on recommendations on how to achieve this.”—Peter L. Berger, Boston University -- Peter L. Berger“Martha Bayles takes a tough, piercing and very thoughtful look at how Americans and our culture are perceived and often misunderstood in the increasingly connected global community. She demonstrates how critical it is that our government return to vigorous public diplomacy to showcase the best of America—our deep commitment to democracy, freedom and human rights and the innate optimism and hope that is at the core of our culture.”—Nicholas Burns, Harvard University and former Under Secretary of State -- Nicholas Burns“Martha Bayles, one of America's most astute cultural critics, demonstrates in Through a Screen Darkly how the vulgarization of American popular culture has distorted the image of the United States for millions of people around the world, even as Washington has let its capacity for ‘public diplomacy’ decay. It is a lively but sobering read for anyone concerned with America's place in the world.”—Francis Fukuyama, author ofThe Origins of Political Order -- Francis Fukuyama“Through a Screen Darkly is a vivid study of the decline of American popular culture and the difficulties it has produced for us worldwide. Analyzing the public diplomacy of the Cold-War and post-Cold-War period, Martha Bayles has produced an absorbing account of the challenges stemming from our present polarization.”—Abbot Gleason, Keeney Professor of History, Emeritus, Brown University -- Abbot Gleason“Public Diplomacy is the weakest aspect of US engagement with the rest of the world. Martha Bayles here offers a well-researched explanation of why Americans are the worst propagandists in the world. This valuable book should help the American public as well as foreign policy establishment understand their country's global image problem.”—Husain Haqqani, former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States -- Husain Haqqani"This is a brisk, how-policy-has-gone-wrong-and-what-to-do-about-it book, which conceals in its pages something more: a brilliant and courageous meditation on the difficulty of communication between modern and traditional societies."—Sam Schulman, Weekly Standard -- Sam Schulman * Weekly Standard *"Bayles . . . has written the freshest and most original treatment of U.S. Public Diplomacy in many years . . . A book to stimulate the professional conversation and debate that Public Diplomacy needs in a new century."—Donald M. Bishop, American Diplomacy -- Donald M. Bishop * American Diplomacy *"An author who knows her stuff and applies it level-headedly is a rare delight nowadays. Martha Bayles, in exploring how America projects its image, both favorably and unfavorably, reaches not only into the detailed modern history of American foreign relations but also into broad cultural matters, and she has a knack for prodding honestly against the weak spots."—Sarah Ruden, Books and Culture -- Sarah Ruden * Books and Culture *"The value of this book . . . stems from its mix of insights into the marketing behemoth that is the entertainment industry, combined with careful compilation of provocative anecdotes from those on the receiving end of Hollywood’s finished products. Bayles’ work makes plain the size of the challenge to America’s public diplomats and offers fresh evidence of the damage that results when correctives to skewed images of the United States are lacking overseas."—Emily T. Metzgar, Center on Public Diplomacy Blog -- Emily T. Metzgar * Center on Public Diplomacy blog *"As Bayles shows in her timely book, the decline of America’s public diplomacy efforts and institutions—which once vigorously promoted our strongest civic and political ideals—means that popular culture exports are now the main shapers of our image abroad. And when not glorifying violence, crime, or casual sex, most of these exports depict a people largely cut off from sustaining ties with family or community, completely absorbed in preening narcissim and seflish consumerism . . . Needless to say, the picture inspires neither emulation nor respect."—Jay Tolson, Hedgehog Review -- Jay Tolson * Hedgehog Review *"This is a wonderful, wonderful book. It is very much more than even its title and subtitle suggest. And it’s a great read. . ."—Kenneth D.M. Jensen, Naval War College Review -- Kenneth D. M. Jensen * Naval War College Review *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“One of the great gifts of global consciousness has been to remind Western secular culture that some art has power beyond the aesthetic. And that power is what this book, the catalog for a show at Bard Graduate Center Gallery in Manhattan (through Jan. 6), is about. It brings together objects of spiritual significance from Africa, Asia, Latin America, medieval Europe and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Each item was designed to seal a vow, ask for help or give thanks for an answered prayer. Together they demonstrate that art is alive and interactive.”—Holland Cotter, New York Times “Lavishly illustrated with colour plates, it is an absolute joy to turn pages that open up a complex expression of faith—namely, the desire on
the part of the devotee to present something to a deity either in petition or gratitude”—Christopher Colven, Art Newspaper

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe sweeping story of cartoons, comic strips and graphic novels and their century-long hold on the American imagination.Trade Review"With encyclopedic knowledge, Jeremy Dauber brilliantly excavates the story of this art form—warts and all—from its origins right up to the twenty-first century, and strikes cartoon gold. For anyone curious about a medium that’s influenced and embedded itself in every part of our culture, American Comics is an essential guidebook. If you are already a connoisseur of comics, be prepared to be enlightened anew." -- Peter Kuper, award-winning cartoonist and author of Kafkaesque and Heart of Darkness"Until now one could only dream of an engaging, analytic history encompassing the entire medium. That sounds like a job for Superman, but Jeremy Dauber has gotten there first…His perceptive, critical overview is enlivened by a jaunty style that bops from the political cartoons of Thomas Nast in the 1860s to the demise of an equally influential gadfly, Mad magazine, in 2018." -- Michael Saler - Wall Street Journal"[Dauber is] a spry, humorous storyteller… [he] suggests that the story of American comics is ‘right in the middle of its run.’ If so, this is a very readable map of where it has been." -- Teddy Jamieson - The Herald

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn The Culturally Savvy Christianhis incisive critique of contemporary culture and religionDick Staub concludes that though it is influential, American popular culture is generally superficial (diversionary, mindless, and celebrity-driven) spiritually delusional (moralistic, therapeutic, and deistic) and soulless (sustained not by art, craft, and ideas, but by the mad pursuit of profitpropped up by marketing and technology). Similarly American Christianity has devolved into its own mindless, diversionary, and celebrity-driven superficiality. Because humans are created in God''s image with spiritual, intellectual, creative, moral, and relational capacities, we long for more, yet the true seeker faces the lose-lose alternatives of a soul-numbing culture and a vacuous Christianity-lite. The renaissance we need in both faith and culture will originate in a deep spiritual renewal that restores God''s image in us and creates a new breed of culturally savvy, thoughtful creatives whTrade Review"Dick Staub has written an engaging and provocative book needed in our times…His insightful critique of popular Christianity and his numerous quotes make it a good source for sermon material or a book discussion group. He provides us with ‘slow food’ for thought." – The Rev. Canon Jonathon Jensen, The Living Church magazine (May 2009)Table of ContentsAcknowledgments. Introduction. Savvy. 1 The Popular Culture We Are In. 2 The Christianity We Are In. 3 The Story We Are In. Serious. 4 God's Deep Presence. 5 God's Transforming Presence. 6 God's Loving Presence. Skilled. 7 Countering Culture like Aliens. 8 Communicating in Culture like Ambassadors. 9 Creating Culture like Artists. Epilogue. Notes. The Author. Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first look at the philosophy behind the Iron Man comics and movies, timed for the release of Iron Man 2 in March 2010 On the surface, Iron Man appears to be a straightforward superhero, another rich guy fighting crime with fancy gadgets. But beneath the shiny armor and flashy technology lies Tony Stark, brilliant inventor and eccentric playboy, struggling to balance his desires, addictions, and relationships with his duties as the Armored Avenger. Iron Man and Philosophy explores the many philosophical issues that emerge from the essential conflicts found in the decades of Iron Man stories in comics and movies. What kind of moral compass does Tony Stark have? Is Iron Man responsible for the death of Captain America after the Marvel Universe Civil War? Should people like Stark run the world? How does Tony's alcoholism impact his performance as Iron Man, and what does it say about moral character? Ultimately, what can Iron Man teach us about the role of technTable of ContentsIron Introductions and Armored Acknowledgments. Part One The Nuts and Bolts of Tony Stark. 1 The Stark Madness of Technology (George A. Dunn). 2 The Technological Subversion of Technology: Tony Stark, Heidegger and the Subject of Resistance (Rocco Gangle). 3 The Literal Making of a Superhero (Travis N. Rieder). Part Two Wearing the Armor Responsibly. 4 Can Iron Man Atone for Tony Stark’s Wrongs? (Christopher Robichaud). 5 Did Iron Man Kill Captain America? (Mark D. White). 6 Fate at the Bottom of a Bottle: Alcohol and Tony Stark (Ron Novy). Part Three The Iron Age: Tony Stark’s Role in Society. 7 Tony Stark and "The Gospel of Wealth" (Andrew Terjesen). 8 ™ and © Stark Industries: Iron Man and Property Rights (Daniel P. Malloy). 9 Tony Stark, Philosopher King of the Future? (Tony Spanakos). Part Four The Mind Inside the Iron Man. 10 Iron Man in a Chinese Room: Does Living Armor Think? (Ron Novy). 11 Flexing His Intelligence: Tony Stark’s Brainy Brawn (Phillip S. Seng). 12 Does Tony Stark Have an Iron Will? (Mark D. White). Part Five The Virtue of an Avenger. 13. Does Tony Stark Use a Moral Compass? (Sarah K. Donovan and Nicholas P. Richardson). 14 Flawed Heroes and Courageous Villains: Plato, Aristotle, and Iron Man on the Unity of the Virtues (Carsten Fogh Nielsen). 15 "I Have a Good Life": Iron Man and the Avenger School of Virtue (Stephanie Patterson and Brett Patterson). Part Six What It Means to Be an Iron Man. 16 Iron Man and the Problem of Progress (David Valleau Curtis). 17 Engendering Justice in Iron Man (Rebecca Housel and Gary Housel). 18 Iron Man’s Transcendent Challenge (Stephen Faller). Contributor: Avengers Assembled. Index: Topics from the S.H.I.E.L.D. File on Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Read more less

Book Synopsistwilight and Philosophy What can vampires tell us about the meaning of life? Is Edward a romantic hero or a dangerous stalker? Is Bella a feminist? Is Stephenie Meyer? How does Stephenie Meyer's Mormonism fit into the fantastical world of Twilight? Is Jacob better for Bella than Edward? The answers to these philosophical questions and more can be found inside Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immortality. With everything from Taoism to mind reading to the place of God in a world of vampires, this book offers some very tasty philosophy for both the living and the undead to sink their teeth into. Whether you're on Team Edward or Team Jacob, whether you loved or hated Breaking Dawn, this book is for you! To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.comTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Supernatural Humans We Can’t Live Without xi Introduction: Undead Wisdom 1 PART ONE TWILIGHT 1 You Look Good Enough to Eat: Love, Madness, and the Food Analogy 7George A. Dunn 2 Dying to Eat: The Vegetarian Ethics of Twilight 25Jean Kazez 3 Can a Vampire Be a Person? 39Nicolas Michaud 4 Carlisle: More Compassionate Than a Speeding Bullet? 49Andrew Terjesen and Jenny Terjesen PART TWO NEW MOON 5 Vampire-Dämmerung: What Can Twilight Tell Us about God? 63Peter S. Fosl and Eli Fosl 6 To Bite or Not to Bite: Twilight, Immortality, and the Meaning of Life 79Brendan Shea 7 Mind Reading and Morality: The Moral Hazards of Being Edward 93Eric Silverman 8 Love and Authority among Wolves 107Sara Worley PART THREE ECLIPSE 9 Bella Swan and Sarah Palin: All the Old Myths Are Not True 121Naomi Zack 10 Vampire Love: The Second Sex Negotiates the Twenty-first Century 131Bonnie Mann 11 Edward Cullen and Bella Swan: Byronic and Feminist Heroes . . . or Not 147Abigail E. Myers 12 Undead Patriarchy and the Possibility of Love 163Leah McClimans and J. Jeremy Wisnewski 13 The “Real” Danger: Fact vs. Fiction for the Girl Audience 177Rebecca Housel PART FOUR BREAKING DAWN 14 Twilight of an Idol: Our Fatal Attraction to Vampires 193Jennifer L. McMahon 15 Bella’s Vampire Semiotics 209Dennis Knepp 16 Space, Time, and Vampire Ontology 219Philip Puszczalowski 17 For the Strength of Bella? Meyer, Vampires, and Mormonism 227Marc E. Shaw 18 The Tao of Jacob 237Rebecca Housel CONTRIBUTORS: Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing the Stars of Our Show, Humans, Vampires, and Shape-Shifters Alike 247 INDEX: For Those Who Can’t Read Minds 253

Read more less

Book SynopsisUntangle the complex web of philosophical dilemmas of Spidey and his worldin time for the release of The Amazing Spider-Man movie Since Stan Lee and Marvel introduced Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962, everyone's favorite webslinger has had a long career in comics, graphic novels, cartoons, movies, and even on Broadway. In this book some of history's most powerful philosophers help us explore the enduring questions and issues surrounding this beloved superhero: Is Peter Parker to blame for the death of his uncle? Does great power really bring great responsibility? Can Spidey champion justice and be with Mary Jane at the same time? Finding your way through this web of inquiry, you'll discover answers to these and many other thought-provoking questions. Gives you a fresh perspective and insights on Peter Parker and Spider-Man's story lines and ideas Examines important philosophical issues and questions, such as: What is it to Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE THE SPECTACULAR LIFE OF SPIDER-MAN? 1 Does Peter Parker Have a Good Life? 7 Neil Mussett 2 What Price Atonement? Peter Parker and the Infinite Debt 22 Taneli Kukkonen 3 “My Name is Peter Parker”: Unmasking the Right and the Good 37 Mark D. White PART TWO RESPONSIBILITY-MAN 4 “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”: Spider-Man, Christian Ethics, and the Problem of Evil 55 Adam Barkman 5 Does Great Power Bring Great Responsibility? Spider-Man and the Good Samaritan 70 J. Keeping 6 With Great Power Comes Great Culpability: How Blameworthy Is Spider-Man for Uncle Ben’s Death? 86 Philip Tallon PART THREE SPIDER-SENSE AND THE SELF 7 Why Is My Spider-Sense Tingling? 103 Andrew Terjesen 8 Red or Black: Perception, Identity, and Self 119 Meaghan P. Godwin 9 With Great Power: Heroism, Villainy, and Bodily Transformation 131 Mark K. Spencer PART FOUR ARACHNIDS “R” US: TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN 10 Transhumanism: Or, Is It Right to Make a Spider-Man? 145 Ron Novy 11 Maximum Clonage: What the Clone Saga Can Teach Us about Human Cloning 159 Jason Southworth and John Timm PART FIVE YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN 12 Justice versus Romantic Love: Can Spider-Man Champion Justice and Be with Mary Jane at the Same Time? 177 Charles Taliaferro and Tricia Little 13 Love, Friendship, and Being Spider-Man 188 Tony Spanakos 14 Spidey’s Tangled Web of Obligations: Fighting Friends and Dependents Gone Bad 200 Christopher Robichaud PART SIX THE AMAZING SPEAKING SPIDER: JOKES, STORIES, AND THE CHOICES WE MAKE 15 The Quipslinger: The Morality of Spider-Man’s Jokes 217 Daniel P. Malloy 16 The Sound and the Fury behind “One More Day” 231 Mark D. White 17 Spider-Man and the Importance of Getting Your Story Straight 243 Jonathan J. Sanford CONTRIBUTORS 257 INDEX 263

Read more less

Book SynopsisInternational in scope and more comprehensive than existing collections, A Companion to Reality Television presents a complete guide to the study of reality, factual and nonfiction television entertainment, encompassing a wide range of formats and incorporating cutting-edge work in critical, social and political theory.Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors ix Introduction 1Laurie Ouellette Part One Producing Reality: Industry, Labor, and Marketing 9 1 Mapping Commercialization in Reality Television 11June Deery 2 Reality Television and the Political Economy of Amateurism 29Andrew Ross 3 When Everyone Has Their Own Reality Show 40Mark Andrejevic 4 Cast-aways: The Plights and Pleasures of Reality Casting and Production Studies 57Vicki Mayer 5 Program Format Franchising in the Age of Reality Television 74Albert Moran Part Two Television Realities: History, Genre, and Realism 95 6 Realism and Reality Formats 97Jonathan Bignell 7 Reality TV Experiences: Audiences, Fact, and Fiction 116Annette Hill 8 From Participatory Video to Reality Television 134Daniel Marcus 9 Manufacturing “Massness”: Aesthetic Form and Industry Practice in the Reality Television Contest 155Hollis Griffin 10 God, Capitalism, and the Family Dog 171Eileen R. Meehan Part Three Dilemmas of Visibility: Identity and Difference 189 11 The Bachelorette’s Postfeminist Therapy: Transforming Women for Love 191Rachel E. Dubrofsky 12 Fractured Feminism: Articulations of Feminism, Sex, and Class by Reality TV Viewers 208Andrea L. Press 13 “It’s Been a While Since I’ve Seen, Like, Straight People”: Queer Visibility in the Age of Postnetwork Reality Television 227Joshua Gamson 14 The Wild Bunch: Men, Labor, and Reality Television 247Gareth Palmer 15 The Conundrum of Race and Reality Television 264Catherine R. Squires 16 Tan TV: Reality Television’s Postracial Delusion 283Hunter Hargraves Part Four Empowerment or Exploitation? Ordinary People and Reality Television 307 17 Reality Television and the Demotic Turn 309Graeme Turner 18 DI(t)Y, Reality-Style: The Cultural Work of Ordinary Celebrity 324Laura Grindstaff 19 Reality Television’s Construction of Ordinary People: Class-Based and Nonelitist Articulations of Ordinary People and Their Discursive Affordances 345Nico Carpentier Part Five Subjects of Reality: Making/Selling Selves and Lifestyles 367 20 Mapping the Makeover Maze: The Contours and Contradictions of Makeover Television 369Brenda Weber 21 House Hunters, Real Estate Television and Everyday Cosmopolitanism 386Mimi White 22 Life Coaches, Style Mavens, and Design Gurus: Everyday Experts on Reality Television 402Tania Lewis 23 Reality Television Celebrity: Star Consumption and Self-Production in Media Culture 421Julie A. Wilson 24 Producing “Reality”: Branded Content, Branded Selves, Precarious Futures 437Alison Hearn Part Six Affective Registers: Reality, Sentimentality, and Feeling 457 25 A Matter of Feeling: Mediated Affect in Reality Television 459Misha Kavka 26 “Walking in Another’s Shoes”: Sentimentality and Philanthropy on Reality Television 478Heather Nunn and Anita Biressi Part Seven The Politics of Reality: Global Culture, National Identity, and Public Life 499 27 Reality Television, Public Service, and Public Life: A Critical Theory Perspective 501Peter Lunt 28 Reality Talent Shows in China: Transnational Format, Affective Engagement, and the Chinese Dream 516Ling Yang 29 Reality Television from Big Brother to the Arab Uprisings: Neoliberal, Liberal, and Geopolitical Considerations 541Marwan M. Kraidy Index 557

Read more less

Book SynopsisInvestigates the emergence and meaning of the cult of death. This book links the mounting demand for images of violent death with dramatic changes in death-related social rituals. It offers a conceptual framework that connects observations of fictional worlds with real-world sociocultural practices.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction One. The Intellectual Origins of the Cult of Death Two. The Commodification of Death Three. The Monsters and the Humans Four. Harry Potter, Tanya Grotter, and Death in the Coming-of-Age Novel Conclusion Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisBased on a series of case studies of globally distributed media and their reception in different parts of the world, Imagining the Global reflects on what contemporary global culture can teach us about transnational cultural dynamics in the 21st century. It also explores how individuals’ consumption of global media shapes their imagination of both faraway places and their own local lives.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAmong other topics, individual chapters of the book focus on the redefinition of German identity in the music of Kraftwerk, Can, and Neu!; on community and conflict in the music of Amon Düül, Faust, and Ton Steine Scherben; on “cosmic music” and New Age; and on Donna Summer’s and David Bowie’s connections to Germany.Trade Review“Far too long, krautrock has been neglected as an area of study in Anglophone academia. Adelt’s study puts a welcome end to this unsatisfactory situation. His book provides an excellent overview and expertly places this remarkable period of German music in its historical as well as transnational context. Without doubt, it will serve as the standard reference on the topic.”- Uwe Schütte, Aston University, Birmingham;“Contrary to prior assessments of krautrock’s almost 50 year trajectory, Adelt does not romanticize its iconic Germanness. On the contrary, he investigates the transnational, hybrid, and crossover quality of krautrock as a discursive formation. . . . Adelt’s study traces the performative dispersal of this inversion in various forms of expressive culture, among them, communal living, spirituality, visual elements but, most importantly, sound. The result is a lively and engaged encounter with a few decades of German rock music which—instead of wanting to anchor musical production in narrow confines of nation, or in rigidified identity categories such as race, class or gender—brings forth the mobile, transformational quality of sound aesthetics, making and mirroring contemporary globalized cultural flows.”- Sabine Broeck, University of Bremen

Read more less

Book SynopsisShowcases the extent to which the archetypical storytelling exemplified by fanfiction has continuities with older forms: the communal tale-telling cultures of the past and the remix cultures of the present have much in common. Short stories that draw on franchises such as Star Trek are accompanied by short contextual and analytical essays.Trade ReviewAs someone who has taught fanfiction for years, I can say that for instructors who do not wish to deal with the thorny issues of internet fanfiction ‘in the wild’ but want to give students the opportunity to discuss and learn from it, this volume will be a boon."" - Anne Jamison, Associate Professor of Literature, University of Utah""The Fanfiction Reader is an invaluable resource for anyone teaching fan studies. This book offers students a much-needed cohesive and contextualized selection of fanfiction stories and a starting point to broach conversations about the ethics of analyzing fic in light of its growing visibility in digital culture."" - Suzanne Scott, Assistant Professor of Media Studies. University of Texas–Austin

Read more less