High Theory/Low Culture

by M. Brottman

Overview

Even those of us who pride ourselves on our discriminating taste, cosmopolitanism and sophistication have been seen with our noses in the sort of newspapers that have in their recurring cast Bigfoot, UFOs, and anonymous unclad women on the inside pages. Brottman (language and literature, Maryland Institute College of Art) uses the theories and methods of "high culture" criticism to examine why we love "low culture" so much, finding the latter serves us at the visceral level, satisfying our needs psychically and emotionally, and providing us with a sort of intellectual baseline we tell ourselves is served by myth or perhaps by the adventure narrative. Besides, even the most blasé must admit we are most human when we are most curious. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403966407
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	03/08/2005
Edition description:	2005
Pages:	157
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

MIKITA BROTTMAN is Professor of Language and Literature, Maryland Institute College of Art, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Popular Culture and its Critics Bakhtin and Style Magazines 'Joyful Mayhem': Bakhtin and Football Barthes and Tabloid Newspapers Roland Barthes Goes Shopping 'Blue Prints and Bodies': Lacan and Pornography Lacan and the Horror Film Conclusion Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"In this brilliant book, Mikita Brottman penetrates the surface of pop culture texts, from magazines and tabloids, to horror movies and erotic flicks, to provide a truly discerning theory as to why people respond so emotionally to them. Unlike the bland, trendy, pseudo-sophisticated critiques of pop culture by many academic pundits that now saturate the bookstands, Brottman shows that popular forms of entertainment are emotionally powerful because of their capacity for being infinitely meaningful at different levels of psychic life, from the sacred to the profane...Brottman's book is both witty and insightful. It is, in the jargon of pop culture, a 'great read.'" - Marcel Danesi, University of Toronto

"Too many academic studies of popular culture are fans' tracts masquerading as serious analysis. Not this one. Acknowledging the problems as well as the pleasures to be had in consuming popular culture, this book is for anyone who wants to work through those ambivalent feelings in order to enjoy the pleasures more fully, rather than just relaxing into uncritical fandom. In writing High Theory/Low Culture Mikita Brottman has done us all a real favor." - Andrew Blake, University College Winchester

"High Theory/Low Culture tackles the question of how people actually enjoy and appreciate popular culture. Mikita Brottman sidesteps condemnations of 'the popular', instead focusing positively on everyday, ordinary aesthetics. Eclectic case studies, ranging from football fans to pornography, showcase to striking effect the work of key theorists such as Bakhtin, Barthes, and Lacan. Highlighting the complexities of low culture, and downsizing the difficulties of high theory, this is a skillful introduction to the study of popular culture's pleasures." - Matt Hills, author of Fan Cultures and The Pleasures of Horror

"High Theory/Low Culture, which is less defensive of pop culture, but works to apply the art of high criticism and theory to the often gutterized world of fashion magazines, tabloids and horror movies." - Chip Ross, Blogcritics.org

From the Publisher