Avoiding The Subject: Media, Culture And The Object

by Dominic D. Pettman, Dominic Pettman

What can Roger Rabbit tell us about the Second Gulf War? What can a woman married to the Berlin Wall tell us about posthumanism and inter-subjectivity? What can DJ Shadow tell us about the end of history? What can our local bus route tell us about the fortification of the West? What can Reality TV tell us about the crisis of contemporary community? And what can unauthorized pictures of Osama Bin Laden tell us about new methods of popular propaganda? These are only some of the thought-provoking questions raised in Avoiding the Subject, which highlights the feedback-loops between philosophy, technology, and politics in today's mediascape.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one textbook I wish I'd actually bought instead of checking it out from the library. I'm sad to see all my (penciled) margin notes go when I return my borrowed copy.

I hope I can write like Australian academics Clemens and Pettman someday. They analyze pop culture without forgetting that meanwhile folks are dying from the same system. Plus, they're funny and hard to pinpoint and unapologetically and openly contradict themselves.