Manufacturing Desire: Media, Popular Culture, and Everyday Life

by Arthur Asa Berger

Overview

The average person in America watches four hours of television per day and spends the equivalent of nine years of his or her life in front of the television set. If the attention most people devote to popular culture - listening to the news, watching soap operas, reading the comics-were added up, it would reveal that most people spend an enormous amount of time with popular culture which becomes in large measure, their culture. "Manufacturing Desire" is a study of how the mass media broadcast or spread various popular arts; further how the media and popular arts play a major role in shaping our everyday lives.The television shows we watch, the movies we see, the radio programs we listen to, and all the comic strips we read influence social behavior. They give us ideas about what is good and evil, about how to solve problems, and about how we should relate to others. If we understand this, says Berger, then the way we think about our media-influenced culture will be far different than if we see popular culture as mindless entertainment. Berger provides an analysis of the way popular culture and the mass media simultaneously reflect and affect various aspects of American culture and society. He examines commercials, television shows, comics, film, humor, and everyday life in terms of what beliefs and values are found in them, what attitudes toward ourselves, and our societies are contained in them, how they achieve their effects, and what they reflect about present-day American culture and society.This book is analysis of the impact mass media have across America, cross-culturally, and internationally. "Manufacturing Desire" will provide the general reader as well as specialists in communication and information, sociology, and psychology with a better understanding of the effects of mass media and popular culture on contemporary society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138527621
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/12/2017
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Arthur Asa Berger San Francisco State University

Table of Contents

Introduction: Terror, Media, Popular Culture, and Everyday Life in America     1
Theoretical Concerns: Introduction
New Perspectives on Popular Culture and the Public Arts     15
Teaching Critical Media Analysis for Pleasure and Profit     33
Advertising: Introduction
1984: The Commercial     43
Manufacturing Desire     57
Humor: Introduction
What's in a Joke? A Microanalysis     71
Eight Scholars in Search of an Interpretation     83
Comics: Introduction
Not Just Kid's Stuff     93
Of Mice and Men: An Introduction to Mouse-ology     111
The Funnies are Good for You!     121
Television: Introduction
Three Media Events     133
Television as an Instrument of Terror II     153
Film: Introduction
The Terminator     165
Star Wars as Fairy Tale     175
Everyday Life: Introduction
Everyday Eating in America     185
Space as a Sign System     197
What Teva Means     205
Comparative Perspectives: Introduction
Texts in Contexts     217
Is Thailand Going Western?     227
Bibliography     235
Name Index     249
Subject Index     253

Editorial Reviews

Advertising, humor, comics, television, film, and everyday life, come under the critical analysis of Berger (broadcast and electronic arts, San Francisco State U.). He also offers new theoretical perspectives on popular culture and the public arts, suggestions for teaching it, and comparative studies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews