Archive for November, 2010
Welfare Queen Redux: Teen Mom, Class and the Bad Mother
Amanda Ann Klein / East Carolina University
MTV’s Teen Mom deploys a straw man of the “Bad Mother,” akin to the Reagan-era welfare queen, to depict unwed, lower-class teen women in a negative light.
The Fringe Benefits of Symbolic Annihilation
Esteban Del Río / University of San Diego
Gerbner’s notion of “symbolic annihilation” frames this discussion of minority representation in mainstream U.S. television, wherein Del Rio notes the conspicuous omission of Filipinos from the televisual space.
The History of Postmodern: Mark Ronson’s Pop Nostalgia
Lucas Hilderbrand / University of California, Irvine
Lucas Hilderbrand considers how Mark Ronson’s new album reminisces about the glory days of 1980s postmodern pop.
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear: For the Young or the Young at Heart?
Kelli Marshall/ University of Toledo
The “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” held in Washington, D.C., drew a crowd whose demographic makeup mirrored that of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, contrary to the anticipated Millennial presence touted by several media commentators.
The Hotness of Cold Opens: Breaking Bad and the Serial Narrative as Puzzle
Lisa Coulthard / University of British Columbia
A look at the puzzling cold opens of Breaking Bad.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,
and What We Know
Murray Pomerance / Ryerson University
“Can it be that we are capable of seeing—with our vast technology and hyperstimulated imaginations—only what was once ourselves, only what we have survived?” Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives inspires us to think about our own lives.
Everybody Knows
Charles R. Acland / Concordia University
The “nobody knows anything” phrase is a smokescreen for an extensive and concentrated organization of advantage in the arena of commercial cultural enterprise.
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