Consuming Passions

by Judith Williamson

Overview

Judith Williamson explores how our cultural tastes, in films, food, television, advertising, music poetry, song lyrics,photography,political movements and even the BritishRoyal Family influence our thinking and how we govern our own lives, and shape those of our children

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780714522807
Publisher:	Boyars, Marion Publishers, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/10/1988
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Judith Williamson is a professor, and journalist, and teaches cultural studies at the Maidstone College of Art. She is the author of two other acclaimed books on culture and imagery.

Editorial Reviews

In our consumerist society, people's desire for progressive change is channeled into a need for new cars, hairstyles and stereos. Williamson, a British journalist and filmmaker, here discusses the ways our needs and impulses are modified by social structures they might otherwise threaten. She explains why buying and owning objects gives consumers a sense of control and shows how commercial images of family life hold out leisure as the arena where desires are fulfilled. The author ponders the abiding popularity of Britain's royal family, debunks the Cosmo girl's prudent wisdom, decodes Doris Day's good-girl image, criticizes the antinuclear movement's use of motherhood as an emotionally charged symbol and analyzes what dressing in drag reveals about women's relative powerlessness. Her reviews of Body Heat, Raging Bull, 10 and City of Women scan these films as reflections of male insecurities. A mixed bag of essays, articles and reviews. (March)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly