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 16
... Theo van Gogh in 2004. In this final chap- ter, I analyze pop songs and music videos by Dutch pop singers and rappers, ranging from tributes to Pim Fortuyn to rap songs about Dutch multicultural society, the special “Dutch Dream” issue ...
... Theo van Gogh in 2004. In this final chap- ter, I analyze pop songs and music videos by Dutch pop singers and rappers, ranging from tributes to Pim Fortuyn to rap songs about Dutch multicultural society, the special “Dutch Dream” issue ...
Page 17
... Theo van Gogh in the Dutch examples . The advantage of such an approach is that the pop - cultural artifact is analyzed in a manner similar to how it is used , namely as an object to be consumed in an intertextual relation with other ...
... Theo van Gogh in the Dutch examples . The advantage of such an approach is that the pop - cultural artifact is analyzed in a manner similar to how it is used , namely as an object to be consumed in an intertextual relation with other ...
Page 110
... (Theo van Gogh, 2003). In Interview, Katja plays the soap ac- tress Katja who is being interviewed at home in her Amsterdam apartment by the political correspondent of a Dutch quality newspaper, Pierre Peters, a role played by the ...
... (Theo van Gogh, 2003). In Interview, Katja plays the soap ac- tress Katja who is being interviewed at home in her Amsterdam apartment by the political correspondent of a Dutch quality newspaper, Pierre Peters, a role played by the ...
Page 119
... Theo van Gogh, was sentenced to life imprisonment, the Boomerang company released a free postcard featur- ing graffiti by Van Gogh's teenage son.1 Inspired by urban American hip- hop culture (often defined as African-American), the ...
... Theo van Gogh, was sentenced to life imprisonment, the Boomerang company released a free postcard featur- ing graffiti by Van Gogh's teenage son.1 Inspired by urban American hip- hop culture (often defined as African-American), the ...
Page 120
... Theo van Gogh on November 2, 2004. As has been suggested in the Dutch media, the horrifying murders of Fortuyn and Van Gogh can be perceived as “our 9/11,” a connection which was immediately recognized by conspiracy theorists who ...
... Theo van Gogh on November 2, 2004. As has been suggested in the Dutch media, the horrifying murders of Fortuyn and Van Gogh can be perceived as “our 9/11,” a connection which was immediately recognized by conspiracy theorists who ...
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