American Popular Culture Commons^™

When Predator Becomes Prey: The Gendered Jargon Of Popular Culture, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century the vernacular of popular culture has been bombarded by sexualized terminology. Although these terms are often formed with humorous intent, their staying power and use as cultural descriptive categories is both intriguing and disturbing. Also troubling is the fact that the majority of these new terms, such as puma (a thirty-something female “dating” a younger male), cougar (a forty-plus female “dating” a younger male), and MILF (“mother I’d like to fuck”), are restricted to the female gender alone. This article analyzes the etymology of these terms, their use in popular culture (ranging …

From American Bandstand To Total Request Live: Teen Culture And Identity On Music Television, Kaylyn Toale

American Studies Senior Theses

Because television succeeds or fails based on its ability to attract an audience large enough to entice advertisers, this project will operate under the assumption that popular television conveys some important cultural attributes of both its creators and its audience. American Bandstand and Total Request Live (TRL) each presented the most popular music of the day in ways that drew massive audiences from America’s youth, between 1952-1989 (Bandstand) and 1998-2008 (TRL.) I will treat these and related shows as venues through which to view American youth culture. The music itself adds an exciting component to the project: as music changed, …

Harbolt, Tami (Fa 394), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 394. Paper: "'I'm Not a Real Doctor, But I Play One on T.V...'": The Use of Folklore in Representations of Occupational Stereotypes in Television Advertising" written by Tami Harbolt for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

The Hillbilly In The American Imagination, Anthony Harkins

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hillbilly: A Cultural History Of An American Icon, Anthony Harkins

History Faculty Book Gallery

In this pioneering work of cultural history, historian Anthony Harkins argues that the hillbilly-in his various guises of "briar hopper," "brush ape," "ridge runner," and "white trash"-has been viewed by mainstream Americans simultaneously as a violent degenerate who threatens the modern order and as a keeper of traditional values of family, home, and physical production, and thus symbolic of a nostalgic past free of the problems of contemporary life. "Hillbilly" signifies both rugged individualism and stubborn backwardness, strong family and kin networks but also inbreeding and bloody feuds. Spanning film, literature, and the entire expanse of American popular culture, from …

Professional Wrestling: From Sport To Sports Entertainment, Ryan Diesem

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Smith On Jenkins, 'Textual Poachers: Television Fans And Participatory Culture', Anne Collins Smith

Faculty Publications

Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins. New York: Routledge, 1992. viii + 343 pp. $95.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-415-90571-8; $38.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-415-90572-5.

In Textual Poachers, Henry Jenkins examines the underground world of the media fandom, people who create fiction, artwork, and other forms of expression based on television shows. Drawing on a rich theoretical background with sources ranging from feminist literary criticism to cultural anthropology, Jenkins applies and adapts Michel de Certeau's model of "poaching," in which an audience appropriates a text for itself. Taking a stand against the stereotypical portrayal of fans as obsessive …

Interview With Mary Bryant (Benton) Fitts Regarding Her Life (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Mary Brant (Benton) Fitts conducted by Karen Owen for an oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." Fitts discusses her life and times, including information about growing up in Utica and Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky, her children, social life and customs, race relations, World War II, and sundry other topics. Mrs. Fitts was a housewife and mother of two.

Interview With Allyene Gregory Regarding Her Life (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Allyene Gregory conducted by Steve Vied for an oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." Gregory discusses her life and times, including information about growing up in Sorgho, Daviess County, Kentucky, education, childhood games, her father's farm, African Americans, social customs and historic events in the community, as well as her teaching career.

Interview With Lattie Edds And Essie Thomason Regarding Their Lives (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Lattie Edds and Essie Thomason conducted by Judi Hetrick for an oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." They discuss their life and times, including information about growing up in McLean County and Hancock County, Kentucky, social life and customs, weaving, childhood chores and games, teachers and teaching, one-room schools, farms and farming, courtship, televisions, radios, the Great Depression, floods, and influenza.

Interview With Lena Stolsworth Regarding Her Life (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Lena Stolsworth conducted by Kim Parson for an oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." Stolsworth discusses her life and times, including information about growing up on a farm in Ohio County, Kentucky, education, social life and customs, floods, the Great Depression and World War II.

Interview With Carrye Abell Regarding Her Life (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Carrye Abell conducted by Keith Smith for a oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." Abell discusses her life and times, including information about education, rural life, courtship, and Prohibition in Thurston, a small community in Daviess County, Kentucky.

Interview With Charlie Earl Coy Regarding His Life (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Charlie Earl Coy conducted by Keith Smith for an oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." Coy discusses his life and times, including information about his childhood in Daviess County, Kentucky, farms and farming, the Great Depression, tobacco, social life and customs, airplanes, radios, television, tractors and other farm equipment, women's suffrage and influenza.