1. Reading and writing About American Popular Culture
Why Study Popular Culture?
Strategies for Actively Reading a Text
An Active Reading Casebook: Three Selections About Barbie
Reading Pop Cultural Criticism
The Indignation of Barbie
Reading Academic Analysis
"Seen Through Rose-Tinted Glasses": The Barbie Doll in American Society
Thesis and Thesis Statement
Writing Research on Popular Culture
Modern Language Association Documentation Format
American Psychological Association Documentation Format
Role-Model Barbie: Now and Forever?
Approaches to Advertising
Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals
How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit
Beefcake and Cheesecake: Insights for Advertisers
The Cultural Influences of Television
Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor
Watching TV Makes You Smarter
Gin, Television, and Social Surplus
Amusing Ourselves to Death with Television News: Jon Stewart, Neil Postman, and the Huxleyan Warning
"'Fake" News versus "Real" News as Sources of Political Information: The Daily Show and Postmodern Political Reality,"
Rap and Race: It's Got a Nice Beat, But What About the Message?
The Miseducation of Hip-Hop
5 Things That Killed Hip-Hop
Music and Contemporary Culture
The Money Note: Can the Record Business Be Saved?
"Take Those Old Records Off the Shelf": Youth and Music Consumption in the Postmodern Age
Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll: Urban Legends and Popular Music
In Perfect Harmony: Popular Music and Cola Advertising
Technology, Individuals, and Communities
Breaking Down Borders: How Technology Transforms the Private and Public Realms
The Labor of Fun: How Video Games Blur the Boundaries of Work and Play
Good Video Games, the Human Mind, and Good Learning
2. Facebook, MySpace, and Social Networking
You Have Been Poked: Exploring the Uses and Gratifications of Facebook Among Emerging Adults
Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life
Sport, Stars, and Society
Discipline and Push-Up: Female Bodies, Femininity, and Sexuality in Popular Representations of Sports Bras
Jack of Smarts: Why the Internet Generation Loves to Play Poker
The Search for Marvin Gardens
Film and American Culture
The Politics of Moviemaking
Raising the Dead: Unearthing the Nonliterary Origins of Zombie Cinema
Apatow and Tarantino: Two Contemporary Filmmakers
Freaks, Geeks, and Mensches: Judd Apatow's Comedies of the Mature
She'll Kill Bill While You Chill
For Further Reading: A Common Culture Bibliography
Index by Author and Title
