Consuming Passions

by Judith Williamson

Overview

Writing with wit and charm and intelligence Judith Williamson explores the forces that channel our tastes and structure our lives: films, books, television, advertisements, photography, music, political movements, and even the royal family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780714528519
Publisher:	Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd
Publication date:	07/01/2000
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)

Editorial Reviews

In our consumerist society, people's desire for progressive change is channeled into a need for new cars, hairstyles and stereos. Williamson, a British journalist and filmmaker, here discusses the ways our needs and impulses are modified by social structures they might otherwise threaten. She explains why buying and owning objects gives consumers a sense of control and shows how commercial images of family life hold out leisure as the arena where desires are fulfilled. The author ponders the abiding popularity of Britain's royal family, debunks the Cosmo girl's prudent wisdom, decodes Doris Day's good-girl image, criticizes the antinuclear movement's use of motherhood as an emotionally charged symbol and analyzes what dressing in drag reveals about women's relative powerlessness. Her reviews of Body Heat, Raging Bull, 10 and City of Women scan these films as reflections of male insecurities. A mixed bag of essays, articles and reviews. (March)

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