Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers
Signs of Life in the USA teaches students to read and write critically about popular culture by giving them a conceptual framework to do it: semiotics, a field of critical theory developed specifically for the interpretation of culture and its signs. Written by a prominent semiotician and an experienced writing instructor, the text’s high-interest themes feature provocative and current reading selections that ask students to think analytically about America’s impressive popular culture: ...
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Unlike other popular culture readers, Signs of Life presumes that this topic merits rigorous analysis and so provides a conceptual framework for understanding it: semiotics, a field of critical theory developed specifically for the interpretation of culture and its signs. The selections in Signs of Life are arranged in provocative chapters (on such themes as gender codes, television and music, film, and advertising) that tap into students’ own experiences with and interest in popular culture. The uniquely qualified editorial team of a prominent semiotician and an experienced writing instructor have prepared extensive apparatus to prompt the rigorous analysis that helps students become better thinkers and writers. In this exciting edition, Signs of Life examines fresh topics with an emphasis on the emerging phenomenon of Web 2.0. Maasik and Solomon continue to stay on the leading edge of popular culture, examining the hottest trends that capture students’ attention.
Preface for InstructorsvIntroduction: Popular Signs: Or, Everything You've Always Known about American Culture (But Nobody Asked)1Writing about Popular Culture21Part 1Cultural Productions431.Consuming Passions: The Culture of American Consumption45The More Factor55The Signs of Shopping62What's in a Package69Hard Bodies79Blue Jeans86The Semiotics of Home Decor94"Careful, You May Run Out of Planet": SUVs and the Exploitation of the American Myth1052.Brought to You B(u)y: The Signs of Advertising117The Parable of the Democracy of Goods129Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising137A Gentleman and a Consumer149Sex, Lies, and Advertising160How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit180The Fiction of Truth in Advertising188Web of Deceit194Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz202Portfolio of Advertisements2103.Video Dreams: The Signs of Music and Television223A Tale of Two Sitcoms236The Oprah Winfrey Show and the Talk-Show Furor241Plotting Paternity: Looking for Dad on the Daytime Soaps249Signs of Intelligent Life on TV260Rewriting Popularity: The Cult Files265Twentysomethings276Bad Sistas2794.The Hollywood Sign: The Culture of American Film289The Thematic Paradigm299Creating the Myth308Braveheart, Babe, and the Contemporary Body317Malcolm X328So You Wanna Be a Gangsta?337Asian Women in Film: No Joy, No Luck349The Return of Doris Day357Class and Virtue3665.It Was A Dark And Stormy Night: The Codes of Popular Literature371The ABCs of Popular Culture382Selection from Blade Runner385Roadside Bones393Cult398Grisham Succeeds in a Novel Way414The Traditional Romance Formula418Selection from Dangerous Passions425Hope I Die before Marcia Gets Old428Reading at Escape Velocity430Part 2Cultural Constructions4356.We've Come A Long Way, Maybe: Gender Codes in American Culture437Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes447The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?453Power at Play: Sport and Gender Relations460Boys-R-Us: Board Games and the Socialization of Young Adolescent Girls472The Beauty Myth481There Is No Unmarked Woman490Warrior Dreams496Women and Children First: Gender and the Settling of the Electronic Frontier5057.Constructing Race: Readings in Multicultural Semiotics515In Living Color: Race and American Culture526Put on a Happy Face: Masking the Differences Between Blacks and Whites538Funky White Boys and Honorary Soul Sisters549Goin' Gangsta, Choosin' Cholita562Baby568Being an Other570How to Tame a Wild Tongue575The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English Composition583The Haves and the Have-Nots5938.Life on the Margins: Representing the "Other" in American Culture599Signs of the Street: A Conversation609The Mind of the Militias618Race, Sex, AIDS: The Construction of "Other"625Beauty and the Battle636American Dreams640The End of Adulthood?645Don't Further Empower Cliques6539.American Icons: The Mythic Characters of Popular Culture657Be Like Mike? Michael Jordan and the Pedagogy of Desire667What Makes Superman So Darned American?677Batman, Deviance, and Camp686Lara Croft, the Bit Girl702Our Barbies, Ourselves706Barbie, G.I. Joe, and Play in the 1960s710Snap! Crackle! Plot!716Larger Than Life72010.Popular Spaces: Interpreting the Built Environment733Disney World: Public Use/Private State744The Science of Shopping757The Man-Made World764Spatial Segregation and Gender Stratification in the Workplace771Alternating Currents778The Ghetto Cityscape784Manifest Congestion: Freeway Landscapes and Timescapes790Country Music Goes on the Road797Glossary803Citing Sources807Index of Authors and Titles819
