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Mythomania
This important book is a dissection of contemporary culture's dominant myths and icons. Welt's essays explore topics such as Michael Jackson, Dr. Seuss, Star Trek, and television game shows.
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First published August 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 8, 2024
Before we had the problem of the internet, we had the problem of TV. Welt posits that the draw of Game shows to someone sitting in their living room was, wow, they're on TV. Made me think about how now we're all on TV. 24/7. This book is brilliant & underrated. One more win for used book stores. RYIL insightful cultural Critism & Media studies.
Its odd and amazing to consider how we all seem to entertain the fantasy that we've transcended merely being a member of the audience, a mere liver of our lives, to being the spectacle worthy of the attention of strangers. in 2024 we are the center and we are the show. We carry the potential for spectacle, for fame and for transfiguration in our pockets and, by now, in our minds. It is an oddly uniform state of magical thinking. We have transcended the quaint reality of silence and we have entered the age of cyborgs. It is no longer okay to be bored. Or be quiet. Or private. Binge watching the Sopranos seems like EatPrayLove compared to the vices that have got a hold us now.
Its odd and amazing to consider how we all seem to entertain the fantasy that we've transcended merely being a member of the audience, a mere liver of our lives, to being the spectacle worthy of the attention of strangers. in 2024 we are the center and we are the show. We carry the potential for spectacle, for fame and for transfiguration in our pockets and, by now, in our minds. It is an oddly uniform state of magical thinking. We have transcended the quaint reality of silence and we have entered the age of cyborgs. It is no longer okay to be bored. Or be quiet. Or private. Binge watching the Sopranos seems like EatPrayLove compared to the vices that have got a hold us now.
September 29, 2020
The success of pop culture analysis can sometimes hinge on how hot its hot takes are, so I was pleased to see that Bernard Welt's collection of cultural mythologies make some pretty bold and imaginative claims. There's some pedantic psychoanalytic widdling about (but that's always present in culture studies), but for every exercise in Freudian scatology, there's an essay about the inconsistent spiritualism of Spielberg's films, or the narratological similarities between The Wizard of Oz and Joan of Arc. A lot of this is on par with Roland Barthes' Mythologies (some of my favorite writing on culture) and deserves more recognition. Makes me want to teach a class just to assign this as the "cool" assigned reading
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews