Pop Culture and the Dark Side of the American Dream
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
Read More
Jane Austen on Screen
Jane Austen films remind the us that it is still possible to sell movies on the basis of time- honored literary qualities: engaging characters, articulate dialogue, well- shaped plots, and serious themes. Essay
Read More
Film Noir Politics
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.
Read More
W.C. Fields
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.
Read More
Jurassic Marx
I think it says something good about the American people that they cannot get enough of their beloved dinosaurs. They are displaying at least a form of scientific curiosity. Aristotle said that philosophy begins with wonder, and dinosaurs are wondrous. Essay
Read More
The Apocalyptic Strain in Popular Culture
We seem to have survived the Mayan apocalypse predicted for December 21, 2012, but maybe we should not get too cocky. American popular culture is overflowing with doomsday prophecies and end-of-the-world scenarios. Essay
Read More
Is There Intelligent Life on Television?
The fact that we now need books to explain our favorite TV shows suggests that the best products of the medium have developed the aesthetic virtues we traditionally associate with books. Essay
Read More
Dark Side of the American Dream
Applying the critical skills he developed as a Shakespeare scholar, Paul A. Cantor finds new depth in familiar landmarks of popular culture. Video
Read More
Beavis and Butt-Head Take Over Silicon Valley
With Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill, Mike Judge earned his place in pop culture history. His new HBO comedy Silicon Valley seems an unlikely follow-up to his earlier successes. Essay
Read More
Inviting Evil In: Horror Stories and the Monstrous Double
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
Read More
Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization
In Gilligan Unbound, a distinguished Shakespeare scholar and literary critic proves once and for all that popular culture can be every bit as complex, meaningful, and provocative as the most celebrated works of literature-and a lot more fun. Book
Read More
Invisible Hand in Popular Culture
In this groundbreaking work, Paul A. Cantor explores the ways in which television shows such as Star Trek, The X-Files, South Park, and Deadwood and films such as The Aviator and Mars Attacks! have portrayed both top-down and bottom-up models of order. Books
Read More
