Reviews for Popular culture

The average rating for Popular culture based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-03 00:00:00 Lisa Boehm Danesi's book is a brief look at the history of pop culture studies and the formation of contemporary thinking about culture. It's real use is as an undergraduate introduction to the topic, and so it really can't be faulted for any major omissions, though the treatment of some subjects does feel unnecessarily brief and somewhat lacking. Decisions about what to include in the film section, for instance, feel somewhat arbitrary. That being said, the book is written at a great level for its intended audience, and the form factor is that of a normal book, not a textbook, which certainly makes it more enjoyable to read. The weirdest part of the book is Danesi's unwavering commitment to Marshall McLuhan, which comes through somehow in every chapter of the book. Not saying that McLuhan isn't great, I love him and agree with most of his work, but it's incredibly clear throughout that Danesi is remarkably biased towards McLuhan's work and doesn't engage as much with other scholars, which somewhat limits the book's overall perspective and reach.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-02-25 00:00:00 Joseph Yarrow Completely disliked this book. The only reason I purchased it is because it was required reading material for a college course. For this avid reader--while it was informative--it lacked creativity, and was a boring read. It read like stereo instructions with an erratic flow. I struggled staying awake while reading every chapter.