American Anatomies: Theorizing Race and Gender Book

Kevorkian presents a brisk exploration of racialized images of technology in American popular culture. Making short work of the "pasty white computer nerd" stereotype by referencing movies and advertising, he submits that the blackness of pop-technology contributes to racist images of black utility-- that people of color, like the machines they use, are reduced to accessory and rote functionality. While this strikes me as too simplistic at points, the case studies he compiles, including "The Hunt for Red October", the "Die Hard" franchise, and "The Matrix" trilogy, are effectively ordered so as to compose a broad overview of American pop culture, which definitely gives added weight to his thesis.

The book is stuffy, clogged with academic jargon, techno-jargon, and sociology jargon, but it ultimately does what it's supposed to do: it makes you think harder about ambient popular culture, look behind the medium to analyze the message, and understand why people act the way they do.