American Popular Culture Commons^™

The Expression Of The Hijab In American Sports Culture, Nicholas Duca

Sacred Heart University Scholar

Many sports in the West, specifically in American culture, permit religious symbols and practices. Yet Muslim women have been subject to discrimination, bigotry, and disrespect for wearing or wanting to wear a hijab. This study uses philosophical theory, data, and cultural information to explore the stigma behind Muslim women in America and their participation in the sporting activities that are held here. This piece explains how the hijab’s true meaning is dismantled through American culture and the religious meaning behind it, argues why it should be allowed in sporting events, and suggests ways to prevent discrimination against Muslim women who …

How Consumer Behavior In The 1930’S-1940’S Differed From Today, John Krusinski

Writing Across the Curriculum

Over the years, consumer behavior has undergone a major evolution in terms of how people buy their products and what influences them. What was once limited by word of mouth and limited availability has now exploded into a major component of everyday life. In order to get more info on what consumer life was like before now, I conducted an interview with my grandmother, Mary Jane Krusinski, to see what consumer life was back in her time as well as her perceptions of consumer life today. However, the answers she gave may surprise some as her life as a consumer …

Media Studies Professor Authors Book On Television Program, The O.C., Lori Bindig

Lori Bindig

In The O.C.: A Critical Understanding (Lexington Books, 2012), Bindig analyzes the cultural legacy of the popular series that ran on the FOX broadcast network from 2003 to 2007.

Modern Transnational Yoga: A History Of Spiritual Commodification, Jon A. Brammer

Master of Arts in Religious Studies (M.A.R.S. Theses)

Yoga as both a physical activity and a spiritual practice has become an established part of Western culture. In recent years, the interest in postural forms of yoga and the philosophy from which they spring has developed into a multi-billion dollar industry; it has spawned volumes of popular histories and "how-to" books on the subject. However, scholars are only beginning to understand the true roots of modern transnational yoga (MTY) as it has developed in recent times. This thesis reviews the last two decades of scholarship in order to provide a credible explanation for MTY origins and argues that viewing …

Branding America: Patriotic Products And Consumerism After September 11th, Lori Bindig, M. Bosau

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Post-9/11 culture provided an opportunity for companies to rebrand themselves and their products as American. In doing so, they supported the president’s directive to consume, gave Americans a concrete way to express their support for their country, and made a tidy profit in the process.

American Cars: Patriotic Consumption After September 11th, Lori Bindig, M. Bosau

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Beginning September 20, 2001, the same day President Bush reiterated his call to participate in the U.S. economy, General Motors provided an outlet for patriotic consumption with a commercial announcing 0 percent financing on every new GM car and truck.

The Genesis Of The Chicago Renaissance: Theodore Dreiser, Langston, Cara E. Erdheim

English Faculty Publications

Book review by Cara Erdheim.

Hricko, Mary. The Genesis of the Chicago Renaissance: Theodore Dreiser, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and James T. Farrell. London & New York: Routledge, 2009.

Blood Culture And The Problem Of Decadence, Jeffrey P. Cain

English Faculty Publications

This paper examines the commodification of hunting practices via the deterritorializing function of capitalism described by Deleuze and Guattari. It also studies counter trends-- predicted by or consistent with Deleuzean theory--that indicate a subtending authenticity displayed by certain hunting practices apparently resistant to commercial exploitation. "Blood culture" is my term for inauthentic hunting activity--a distinction drawn directly by Deleuze in his televised interviews with Claire Parnet. Aspects of "becoming-animal" and other transversal and cross-disciplinary flows of thought are also of course in play. As in some of my former work, I again argue for a Deleuzean cultural mechanics of the …

The Bride Is Keeping Her Name: A 35-Year Retrospective Analysis Of Trends And Correlates, Richard J. Kopelman, Rita J. Shea Van-Fossen, Eletherios Paraskevas, Leanna Lawter, David J. Prottas

WCBT Faculty Publications

We used data obtained from wedding announcements in the New York Times newspaper from 1971 through 2005 (N=2,400) to test 9 hypotheses related to brides' decisions to change or retain their maiden names upon marriage. As predicted, a trend was found in brides keeping their surname, and correlates included the bride’s occupation, education, age, and the type of ceremony (religious versus nonsectarian). Partial support was found for the following correlates: officiants representing different religions, brides with one or both parents deceased, and brides whose parents had divorced or separated. There was mixed support for the hypothesis that a …

24 And The Efficacy Of Torture, Matthew D. Semel

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In the Fox Television Network program 24 a fictional counterterrorism agent named Jack Bauer uses extreme measures, including torture, to save the United States from catastrophic terrorist attacks. Bauer uses torture even though its efficacy is in question and it is illegal. Political leaders, including President George Bush, have endorsed the use of torture and Bauer's fictional success has reinforced that the idea these methods are both necessary and effective in obtaining actionable intelligence. This paper examines existing literature on military interrogations in the context of 24 and reviews empirical and descriptive evidence about existing practices. While researchers cannot ethically …

Cover To Cover: Contemporary Issues In Popular Women’S Magazines, Debbie Danowski

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Exposure to popular magazine covers is widespread among even those choosing not to read a particular magazine. With news racks in all grocery and convenience stores, the American public cannot escape at least a quick glance at the material presented on the cover. Because of this, it is vital that we analyze the messages being disseminated each month through these publications.

This study will attempt to analyze and categorize the messages sent out via the covers of the five most popular general interest women's magazines with the highest circulation during the year 2000: Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, …

Danger On The Doorstep: Anti-Catholicism And American Print Culture In The Progressive Era (Book Review), R. Bryan Bademan

History Faculty Publications

Book review by R. Bryan Bademan.

Nordstrom, Justin. Danger on the Doorstep: Anti-Catholicism and American Print Culture in the Progressive Era. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. ISBN 9780268036058

Indians In Unexpected Places (Book Review), Jeffrey P. Cain

English Faculty Publications

Book review by Jeffrey Cain:

Deloria, Philip J. Indians in Unexpected Places. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004. ISBN: 9780700613441; 9780700614592 (pbk.)

Winning It All: The Cinematic Construction Of The Athletic American Dream, Andrew Miller

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Powered by a philosophy of self-determination and an ideology of a level playing field, the Athletic American Dream has become firmly entrenched in American culture. Following narrative pattterns influenced by both newspaper sports sections and juvenile sports fiction, it coalesces around underdog-to-champion, hard-work-leads-to-victory narratives that shape the sporting imagination and help to forge the masculine ideal that is the foundation of American self-image. The Athletic American Dream is produced, packaged and sold by mass media so successfully that one could argue that it becomes the most dominant vision of the American Dream by the end of the twentieth century.

Using The Novel To Teach Multiculturalism, Michelle Loris

English Faculty Publications

Description of a fourteen week course taught by Michelle Loris, professor of English at Sacred Heart University. The course, titled Recent Ethnic American Fictions, introduced students to several concepts from contemporary literary theory. The theories included New Criticism, Deconstruction, Cultural Studies, New Historicism, and Feminist Theory. The assumption was that these concepts would give students the tools to become critical readers, which would then provide them with a deeper understanding of these multicultural novels and their particular cultural contexts.

For a semester, reading and thinking about these multicultural novels engaged and challenged the students' assumptions about themselves and the …

Personalized Gravestones: Your Life's Passion For All To See And Hear, Peter A. Maresco, Ahmed U. Zafar

WCBT Faculty Publications

In the past several years, a trend has developed that in an earlier age would have seemed inappropriate and perhaps even morbid; the increased personalization of gravestones (memorials). What makes this trend interesting is the variety of shapes, designs, manufacturing processes, and types of personalization actually appearing on gravestones, including seven-inch LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens recessed into the face of memorials. This paper discusses gravestones (memorials) in a religious context. It examines the rapidly developing market for elaborately designed memorials both in their traditional forms, typically vertical and created out of granite with just a name and date of …

At Home In The City: Urban Domesticity In American Literature And Culture, 1850-1930, By Betsy Klimasmith, Cara Erdheim

English Faculty Publications

Book review by Cara Erdheim.

Klimasmith, Betsy. At Home in the City: Urban Domesticity in American Literature and Culture, 1850-1930. Durham, New Hampshire: University of New Hampshire Press, 2005.

Beyond 'Hot Lips' And 'Big Nurse': Creative Writing And Nursing, Sandra Young

English Faculty Publications

This essay describes a special topics creative writing course designed for nursing students, and argues that creative writing strategies work to improve nurses' compositional skills. Also discussed are other potential benefits from creatively writing patients' lives, notably, the blending of arts and sciences, and the ways in which medical schools are encouraging their students to study the humanities, especially literature and creative writing. The essay includes student creative writing samples.

The essay also discusses the depiction of nurses in popular culture. M*A*S*H*, Richard Hooker’s black comedy about the antics of doctors and nurses during the Korean War, gave us “Hot …

Media Sports Stars: Masculinities And Moralities (Book Review), Andrew C. Miller

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Book review by Andrew C. Miller.

Whannel, G. (2002). Media sports stars: Masculinities and moralities. Routledge.

Hollywood Goes To Washington: Scandal, Politics, And Contemporary Media Culture, James Castonguay

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Hollywood has long been associated with scandal--with covering it up, with managing its effects, and, in some cases, with creating and directing it. In putting together Headline Hollywood, Adrienne McLean and David Cook approach the relationship between Hollywood and scandal from a fresh perspective. The contributors consider some of the famous transgressions that shocked Hollywood and its audiences during the last century, and explore the changing meaning of scandal over time by zeroing in on issues of power: Who decides what crimes and misdemeanors should be circulated for public consumption and titillation? What makes a Hollywood scandal scandalous? What are …

Cowboy Wonderland, History, And Myth: 'It Ain't All That Different Than Real Life, William G. Simon, Louise Spence

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson was Robert Altman's bicentennial film. Released for the Fourth of July weekend in 1976, the film examines the western both as a national myth and as a commercial entertainment form; indeed, one might see the film's project as an expos? of the ideological functioning of the western, its white male hero, and the Native American in nearly 100 years of American popular culture.

Gloria Patri, Gender, And The Gulf War: A Conversation With Mary Kelly, James Castonguay, Amelie Hastie, Lynne Joyrich, Christopher Lane, Kathleen Woodward

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Mary Kelly's gallery size installation, entitled Gloria Patri, was first shown at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University in 1992. Gloria Patri focuses on the issues of heroism, mastery, and war within the context of a pathologized masculinity; that is, on the identification by both men and women with masculine ideals of mastery, domination, and control, and their simultaneous physical and psychological collapse. This crisis of masculine mastery is set against the backdrop of the Persian Gulf War.

The Rhetorical Effectiveness Of Black Like Me, Hugh Rank

English Faculty Publications

In 1959, John Howard Griffin, a white Southern novelist, disguised himself as a Negro and traveled through the South to experience "what it is like to be a Negro in a land where we keep the Negro down." The brief narrative account of this experience is recorded in Black Like Me, a book which wom the Saturday Review's Anisfield-Wolf award in 1962 for its contribution toward race relations. In brief, why is Black Like Me rhetorically effective?