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Homer Simpson Goes to Washington

American Politics Through Popular Culture

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

“Informative and entertaining . . . convincingly argue[s] that an interest in popular culture can counterbalance the growing tide of political apathy.” —Publishers Weekly
 
While pundits may accuse popular culture of brainwashing, indoctrinating, distracting, or dumbing down the masses, the fact is that Americans have long turned to entertainment sources to make sense of politics, through television shows such as The Simpsons, The West Wing, The Daily Show, and Chappelle’s Show and films such as Election, Bulworth, and Wag the Dog. In Homer Simpson Goes to Washington, Joseph J. Foy has assembled a multidisciplinary team of scholars with backgrounds in political science, philosophy, law, cultural studies, and music. Their essays tackle common assumptions about government and explain fundamental concepts such as civil rights, democracy, and ethics—through the lens of drama and comedy.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 2, 2008
      In this informative and entertaining essay collection, Foy largely succeeds at breaking down the “artificial barriers” between American politics and popular culture. Referencing films, television programs and other forms of mass entertainment—from Bob Dylan song lyrics to Dave Chappelle’s show—as a lens through which to view abstract political ideas and teachings, each chapter breaks down a specific aspect of American government. Particularly illuminating are the essays distilling Hobbes and Locke’s “social contract” theory through the dystopian eye of the Wachowski brothers’ V for Vendetta
      and the world of political lobbying through Jason Reitman’s satire Thank You for Smoking
      . For every fresh insight, however, there exists a simplistic summary of an overly examined film—Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
      , for example—that dulls the collection, as do the essays that only peripherally link entertainment subjects to their intended ideas. Overall, however, Foy has compiled an energetic assortment of analyses that convincingly argue that an interest in popular culture can counterbalance the growing tide of political apathy in the United States.

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  • English

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