What is a Western? How and when did The Western emerge as an art form? Paul Cantor shares his perspective. Conversation
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The many con men, gangsters, and drug lords portrayed in popular culture are examples of the dark side of the American dream. Viewers are fascinated by these twisted versions of heroic American archetypes, like the self-made man and the entrepreneur. Applying the critical skills he developed as a Shakespeare scholar, Paul A. Cantor finds new depth in familiar landmarks of popular culture. Book
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The standard film-noir view of American values as empty and American institutions as hollow may indeed be another strange instance of what happened when European ideas and attitudes were transported to America as a result of the convulsions in Europe.
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W.C. Fields made the endless struggle to become someone else the theme of his films, as he debunked a variety of incarnations of the American Dream.
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From a vampire slinking through a dark forest, to the deformed creation of mad science, to a lumbering dinosaur in central London, to a radioactive mutation marching on Tokyo, to a reanimated mummy scheming to take over the world, to a giant ape atop the Empire State Building—we have met the monsters, and they are us. Essay
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The great example of commercial culture. Most movies are of low quality, but the system as a whole still produces masterpieces. Academics were the last to recognize cinema as an art form. The studio system vs. the auteur. Critique of the Frankfurt School critique of mass culture. Lecture 8
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