Preface for instructors -- Rhetorical contents -- Introduction: Analyzing popular culture. What is popular culture? ; The importance of studying pop culture ; Critical thinking ; Critical reading : from comprehension to analysis -- Consumption and advertising : how can we become more critical consumers. Overselling capitalism with consumerism / Benjamin Barber ; With these words I can sell you anything / William Lutz ; Toys / Roland Barthes ; Craving the other / Soleil Ho ; In praise of chain stores / Virginia Postrel ; The hard sell : advertising in America / Bill Bryson -- Paired readings: (M)e-commerce. Snaps to riches : the rise of Snapchat celebrities / Ellen Huet ; Public displays of transaction / Chiara Atik -- Identity : where do we discover ourselves in pop culture? An argument for being a poser / Liz Armstrong ; The n-word is flourishing among generation Hip-hop Latinos : why should we care now? / Raquel Cepeda ; The end of white America? / Hua Hsu ; The sports taboo / Malcolm Gladwell ; Impression management in a networked setting / Danah Boyd -- Paired readings: It's complicated. Women and the rise of raunch culture / Ariel Levy ; Pop culture's transgender moment / Sonali Kohli -- Technology : How do new devices and apps transform experience? Wall of sound : the iPod has changed the way we listen to music / Nikil Saval ; The judgment of Thamus / Neil Postman ; Gin, television, and social surplus / Clay Shirky ; Love the one you're near / Jennifer Bleyer -- Paired readings: Clickbait. You are what you click / David Auerbach ; The IRL fetish / Nathan Jurgenson -- Music : How does popular music reflect and express our identities? "Elevate my mind" : identities for women in Hip-hop love songs / Pamela Hollander ; Country music, openness to experience, and the psychology of culture war / Will Wilkinson ; Seduced by "perfect" pitch : how auto-tune conquered pop music / Lessley Anderson ; Riffs of passage / Tina Vasquez -- Paired readings: Pop of ages. The pernicious rise of poptimism / Saul Austerlitz ; Concerning the spiritual in Indie rock / Judy Berman -- Television : are we living in a Golden Age of television? Television addiction is no more metaphor / Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ; Girls, girls, girls / Roxane Gay ; The apocalyptic strain in popular culture : the American nightmare becomes the American dream / Paul A. Cantor ; Netflix and the future of television / Ken Auletta -- Paired readings: Characters wanted. Story or spectacle? Why television is better than the movies / David Charpentier ; Stay unlikable - for the good of TV / Jake Flanagin -- Movies : Does the big screen still shape our dreams? The imagination of disaster / Susan Sontag ; Hollywood's love affair with surveillance / Willie Osterweil ; Has Hollywood murdered the movies? / David Denby ; Seven steps to the perfect story / Content Marketing Association -- Paired readings: The imitation game. Creating the myth / Linda Seger ; The Asian renovation of biracial buddy action / Philippa Gates -- Immersive media : Can we get lost - and can we be found - in media? On novel reading / Vicessimus Knox ; Teen literature and fan culture / Robin Brenner ; The art of immersion : fear of fiction / Frank Rose ; My zombie, myself : why modern life feels rather undead / Chuck Klosterman ; Escape from the matrix / Jacob Burak ; Why videogames should be played with friends, not online with strangers / Bo Moore -- Paired readings: We can be heroes. Violent media is good for kids / Gerard Jones ; Secret skin : an essay in unitard theory / Michael Chabon.
Summary:
Reading Pop Culture: A Portable Anthology is a current, compact, inexpensive collection that taps into students' passionate engagement with popular culture in order to help them to become better writers. Its focus on themes of consumption, advertising, identity, technology, television, movies, and new media prompts composition students to think and write about issues they care about. This volume in the popular Bedford/St. Martin's series of Portable Anthologies and Guides offers a trademark combination of high quality and great value. -- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.