ISBN:
9781599473857
Language:
English
Pages:
1 online resource (213 pages)
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als
DDC:
302.23
Keywords:
Mass media and culture -- United States
;
Popular culture -- United States
;
Mass media and culture ; United States
;
Popular culture ; United States
;
Electronic books
;
Aufsatzsammlung
Abstract:
"Sizing up and taking down the things we read, watch, and play, this all-star team of analysts provides a series of delights and surprises that will make you ponder anew the deep structures that inform our lives, even when we think we're off-duty."-Kyle Smith, movie critic, New York Post Contemporary popular culture, from books to film to television to music to the deepest corners of the internet, has provoked a great deal of criticism, some of it well deserved. Yet for many Americans, and particularly for younger Americans, popular culture is culture. It is the only kind of cultural experience they seek and the currency in which they trade. In Acculturated, twenty-three thinkers examine the rituals, the myths, the tropes, the peculiar habits, the practices, and the neuroses of our modern era. Every culture finds a way for people to tell stories about ourselves. We rely on these stories to teach us why we do the things we do, to test the limits of our experience, to reaffirm deeply felt truths about human nature, and to teach younger generations about vice and virtue, honor and shame, and a great deal more. A phenomenon like the current crop of reality television shows, for example, with their bevy of "real" housewives, super-size families, and toddler beauty-pageant candidates, seems an unlikely place to find truths about human nature or examples of virtue. And yet on these shows, and in much else of what passes for popular culture these days, a surprising theme emerges: Move beyond the visual excess and hyperbole, and you will find the makings of classic morality tales. As the title suggests, readers will find in these pages "ACulture Rated." This lively roundtable of "raters" includes not only renowned cultural critics like Caitlin Flannigan and Chuck Colson, but also celebrated culture creators like the producers of the hit ABC comedy Modern
Abstract:
Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction -- Part 1: Love in a Time of Reality TV -- 1. Sex, Lies, and YouTube -- 2. Monster Mashup: How Our Culture's Heroes and Villains Have Traded Places -- 3. Chick Lit and the Master/Slave Dialectic -- 4. Lonely Hearts Online: Why I'm Glad I Didn't Meet My Husband on Match.com -- 5. In My Humble Opinion: Why Americans Still Need Advice Columnists -- 6. All the President's Friends: The Challenge of Loyalty in Politics -- Part 2: Smells Like Teen Spirit -- 7. An Unnatural Habitat: The Separate Lives of Adolescents -- 8. The Achievement Trap: How Overparenting Undermines Character -- Part 3: At Your Leisure -- 9. Games People Play-Together -- 10. Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Why Pro Athletes Aren't Heroes -- 11. Performance Art: The Faux Creativity of Lady Gaga -- 12. Project Runway: The Surprising Virtues of Style -- 13. Back to Betty Crocker: Why Everyday Cooking Matters -- 14. In Search of the Next Great American Songbook -- Part 4: Building a Better You -- 15. Controlling Our Bodies, Controlling Ourselves -- 16. Public Broadcasting: The Allure of Overexposure -- 17. Lessons for Life: The Virtues of Continuing Education -- 18. Death Be Not Chic -- 19. The American Dream, Twenty-Two Minutes at a Time -- 20. Utopian Virtues -- 21. Never Having to Say You're Sorry: The Challenges of Forgiveness in an Age of Relativism -- Contributors.
Note:
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources
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