Description
Book SynopsisVirtually anyone who has ever watched a profound movie, a powerful TV show, or read a moving novel understands that entertainment can and does affect us in surprising and significant ways. But did you know that our most popular forms of entertainment can have a direct physical effect on us, a measurable impact on society, geopolitics, the economy, and even the future itself? In You Are What You Watch, Walter Hickey, Pulitzer Prize winner and former chief culture writer at acclaimed data site FiveThirtyEight.com, proves how exactly how what we watch (and read and listen to) has a far greater effect on us and the world at large than we imagine.
Employing a mix of research, deep reporting, and 100 data visualizations, Hickey presents the true power of entertainment and culture. From the decrease in shark populations after Jaws to the increase in women and girls taking up archery following The Hunger Games, You Are What You Watch proves its points not just with research and argument, but hard data. Did you know, for example, that crime statistics prove that violent movies actually lead to less real-world violence? And that the international rise of anime and Manga helped lift the Japanese economy out of the doldrums in the 1980s? Or that British and American intelligence agencies actually got ideas from the James Bond movies?
In You Are What You Watch, readers will be given a nerdy, and sobering, celebration of popular entertainment and its surprising power to change the world.
Trade Review“Pulitzer Prize winner Hickey presents a refreshing analysis of media consumption… A worthy, fun dissection of pop culture that’s full of infographics and data.”—
Library Journal, starred review"Hickey’s argument is cogent and original and couched informally, with palpable enthusiasm. He enlivens his research with witty opinions, amusing digressions, and arresting visuals... Hickey’s lighthearted approach will prove especially enticing for fellow data heads and devotees of pop culture.”—
Booklist“The trivia surprises and the bounty of colorful charts and graphs offer fun insight into popular culture. This is a blast.”—
– Publishers Weekly“Every page is lovingly written, reported, charted, and graphed in a way that only Walt Hickey could do.”—
Nate SilverTable of Contents INTRODUCTION
1: HOW CULTURE AFFECTS OUR BODIES
2: HOW CULTURE CAPTURES US
3: HOW CULTURE RELFECTS US
4: HOW CULTURE CHANGES US
5: COMMERCE & CULTURE & COMMERCE
6: HOW CULTURE FUELS EMPIRES
7: HOW CULTURE SURVIVES
8: WHAT STORIES DO TO THEIR CREATORS
INDEX
SOURCES
PHOTO CREDITS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
