Fabricating the Absolute Fake: America in Contemporary Pop CultureThe pageantry of Oprah Winfrey’s daytime talk show, the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola empire, Michael Jackson’s turn from the King of Pop into an iconic global recluse: American “pop” culture—and the contemporary films, television programs, and cultural objects that determine it—dominates the rest of the world through its hegemonic presence. Does that make everyone a hybridized American or do these elements find mediation within the other cultures that consume them? Fabricating the Absolute Fake applies elements of postmodern theory—Jean Baudrillard’s hyperreality and Umberto Eco’s “absolute fake”, among others—to this globally mediated American pop culture in order to examine both the phenomena itself and its appropriation in the Netherlands, as evidenced by diverse cultural icons like the Elvis-inspired crooner Lee Towers, the Moroccan-Dutch white rapper Ali B, musical tributes to an assassinated politician, and the Dutch reality soap opera scene. A fascinating exploration of how global cultures struggle to create their own “America” within a post–September 11 media culture, Fabricating the Absolute Fake reflects on what it might mean to truly take part in American popular culture. “A brilliant, thoroughly enjoyable work of cultural critique. . . . Jaap Kooijman takes seemingly exhausted concepts like “Americanization” and turns them on their head.”—Anne McCarthy, New York University |
From inside the book
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Page 15
... Ally McBeal . The third chapter connects the “ America ” of post - 9 / 11 television to the depiction of “ America ” in connec- tion to the first and the second Gulf Wars by both television and Hollywood cinema . Based on the concepts ...
... Ally McBeal . The third chapter connects the “ America ” of post - 9 / 11 television to the depiction of “ America ” in connec- tion to the first and the second Gulf Wars by both television and Hollywood cinema . Based on the concepts ...
Page 41
... Ally McBeal, which both explicitly comment on 9/11. These television shows are significant, as they all contribute to the American public debate and present “America” as an imagined community (to use Benedict Anderson's concept) ...
... Ally McBeal, which both explicitly comment on 9/11. These television shows are significant, as they all contribute to the American public debate and present “America” as an imagined community (to use Benedict Anderson's concept) ...
Page 42
... Ally McBeal are not only broadcast on international television, they are also commercially available, and bestsellers, on DVD in many countries. In this way, these television shows help to shape the way non- Americans view “America” as ...
... Ally McBeal are not only broadcast on international television, they are also commercially available, and bestsellers, on DVD in many countries. In this way, these television shows help to shape the way non- Americans view “America” as ...
Page 46
... Ally McBeal , revealing that the rhetoric of America as imag- ined community reaches beyond the political realm into the globally mediated American pop culture . 9/11 on The Oprah Winfrey Show During the first two weeks after 9/11 ...
... Ally McBeal , revealing that the rhetoric of America as imag- ined community reaches beyond the political realm into the globally mediated American pop culture . 9/11 on The Oprah Winfrey Show During the first two weeks after 9/11 ...
Page 53
... Ally McBeal, as will be discussed below. 9/11 on The West Wing While The Oprah Winfrey Show immediately could incorporate the September 11 attacks within its regular talk show format, fictional television programs faced the dilemma of ...
... Ally McBeal, as will be discussed below. 9/11 on The West Wing While The Oprah Winfrey Show immediately could incorporate the September 11 attacks within its regular talk show format, fictional television programs faced the dilemma of ...
Other editions - View all
Fabricating the Absolute Fake: America in Contemporary Pop Culture Jaap Kooijman No preview available - 2013 |
Fabricating the absolute fake: America in contemporary pop culture Jaap Kooijman No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
Absolute Fake Adam Curry African-American Ally McBeal Ameri American Dream American flag American pop culture Amsterdam audience broadcast Bruce Springsteen celebrities close-up Coca-Cola commercial Dixie Chicks Dutch Dutch national Dutch pop culture editors emphasizes episode essay ethnic European Cinema explicit fictional film Frans & Baas genre conventions Gulf Gulf War hip-hop Hollywood hyper-Americanness hyperreality imagined America imagined community Iraq Jarhead Jean Baudrillard karaoke Americanism Katja Lange Frans Lee Towers Linda London Michael Jackson military Moroccan Moroccan-Dutch movie multicultural music video nation-state USA national identity Netherlands Oprah Winfrey Show Patricia Paay patriotism perceived Pim Fortuyn political pop song pop stars pop-cultural artifacts popular present President rapper rhetoric Rob Kroes Routledge Shouf Shouf Habibi singing star image star myth Star-Spangled Banner suggesting Super Bowl performance talk show terrorist Theo van Gogh Three Kings tion translated University Press USA for Africa viewers West Wing white Dutch Whitney Houston World York