Description
Book Synopsis"Our society has undergone a paradigm shift. In the information age, you and I are the alpha males," Dr Leonard Hofstadter, experimental physicist and protagonist of the hit sitcom "The Big Bang Theory", assures himself and his fellow scientists. The success of this and similar formats in American popular culture proves his point: Science has finally discovered the formula for cool. This interdisciplinary study examines how "cool", a key aesthetic and affective category in the American imagination, informs contemporary representations of technoscience. Analyzing selected audiovisual productions, Judith Kohlenberger sheds light on current processes of interaction between science and popular culture, two pivotal sources for change in post-industrial America.
Trade Review"An important contribution to the study of American popular culture and will be a fixture in future discussions addressing the many permutations of cool." Susanne Hamscha, Amerikastudien, 62/1 (2017) "In her study, Kohlenberger succeeds in dissecting the multiple diverging relationships of science and coolness and provides a compelling analysis of a variety of media texts. This makes 'The New Formula for Cool' not only an important go-to for anyone interested in coolness studies, but also an important contribution to North American Studies and explorations of popular culture in general." Maria Sulimma, Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 65/2 (2017) "One can only hope that there will be a continuation and extension of the present engaging and remarkably informative study in the near future." Katarina Delikonstantinidou, European journal of American studies, 2 (2016)
