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 13
... explicit and direct result of passive American cultural imperialism nor a liberating subcultural act of ... explicitly to Hollywood and Ameri- can pop culture is rather surprising, at least when applied to a western Eu- ropean country ...
... explicit and direct result of passive American cultural imperialism nor a liberating subcultural act of ... explicitly to Hollywood and Ameri- can pop culture is rather surprising, at least when applied to a western Eu- ropean country ...
Page 14
... explicit national or local contexts as examples of Americanization? Moreover, such identifications may differ among different cultural groups within the lo- cal society or among different generations (in the Netherlands blue jeans tend ...
... explicit national or local contexts as examples of Americanization? Moreover, such identifications may differ among different cultural groups within the lo- cal society or among different generations (in the Netherlands blue jeans tend ...
Page 15
... explicitly visible on American television after the terrorist attacks of September 11 , 2001. I discuss specific episodes of television programs that commented on 9/11 immediately after the attacks , based on three case studies : the ...
... explicitly visible on American television after the terrorist attacks of September 11 , 2001. I discuss specific episodes of television programs that commented on 9/11 immediately after the attacks , based on three case studies : the ...
Page 16
... explicitly political context. Similar to the way American pop culture has commented on the first and second Gulf Wars and 9/11, Dutch pop culture, often inspired by the American example, has commented on 9/11 and the assassinations of ...
... explicitly political context. Similar to the way American pop culture has commented on the first and second Gulf Wars and 9/11, Dutch pop culture, often inspired by the American example, has commented on 9/11 and the assassinations of ...
Page 18
... explicitly American conception of values such as freedom and democracy by recognizing Hollywood as “ an engine of global hegemony . ” 26 With Fabricat- ing the Absolute Fake , I expand Elsaesser's argument beyond cinema into the broader ...
... explicitly American conception of values such as freedom and democracy by recognizing Hollywood as “ an engine of global hegemony . ” 26 With Fabricat- ing the Absolute Fake , I expand Elsaesser's argument beyond cinema into the broader ...
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