Barbie

Author: Kristin Noelle Weissman
Publisher: Universal-Publishers
ISBN: 1581128282
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 125

Book Description
This thesis is a cultural analysis of: a) women's idealized perception of the Barbie doll, & b) the construction of the Barbie doll image through marketing. In addition, both areas will provide a concentrated emphasis on "respectability." The analysis will be focused on Barbie's creation in 1959, & on the current practices of representations in 1999. The thesis is divided into two phases. Phase one illustrates the interpretation of how women perceive Barbie, & how they see themselves in her likeness. It further explores the determined impression of the doll as "respectable." Phase two examines the way that Barbie is presented in the market & the techniques used to formulate the intended representations of the doll. The analysis of the thesis focuses solely on her introduction in 1959, & on her current distinction. The Barbie doll is an iconic image. The symbol of the "feminine ideal" which has caused women to perceive & recognize this figure in a personal light. Further, her existence in the marketplace creates a continual awareness in women to identify & evolve with this object as she captures the culture. It is critical to examine the conception & portrayal of an icon such as the Barbie doll. As a predominant feature in American culture & society, she is a fictitious character that many have contrived into a reality. She is a name that strikes instant familiarity, & she is a name that evokes controversy, emulation, & success. This thesis achieves a comprehensive look into her importance to women, & the ways in which her corporate creators make her accessible to fulfill this need. Therefore, this thesis accurately makes a connection between the marketing of the Barbie doll, & the building of an icon.

Barbie's Queer Accessories

Author: Erica Rand
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822316206
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
This book discusses the history of the Barbie doll and at the cultural reappropriations of Barbie by artists, collectors and especially lesbians and gay men.

American Icons [3 volumes]

Author: Dennis R. Hall
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313027676
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 937

Book Description
What do Madonna, Ray Charles, Mount Rushmore, suburbia, the banjo, and the Ford Mustang have in common? Whether we adore, ignore, or deplore them, they all influence our culture, and color the way America is perceived by the world. In this A-to-Z collection of essays scholars explore more than one hundred people, places, and phenomena as they seek to discover what it means to be labeled icon. From the Alamo to Muhammad Ali, from John Wayne to the zipper, the American icons covered in this unique three-volume set include subjects from culture, law, art, food, religion, and science. By providing numerous ways for the reader to engage in the process of interpreting these images and artifacts, the work serves as a unique resource for students of American history and culture. Features 100 illustrations. What do Madonna, Ray Charles, Mount Rushmore, suburbia, the banjo, and the Ford Mustang have in common? Whether we adore, ignore, or deplore them, they all influence our culture, and color the way America is perceived by the world. This A-to-Z collection of essays explores more than one hundred people, places, and phenomena that have taken on iconic status in American culture. The scholars and writers whose thoughts are gathered in this unique three-volume set examine these icons through a diverse array of perspectives and fields of expertise. Ranging from the Alamo to Muhammad Ali, from John Wayne to the zipper, this selection of American icons represents essential elements of our culture, including law, art, food, religion, and science. Featuring more than 100 illustrations, this work will serve as a unique resource for students of American history and culture. The interdisciplinary scholars in this work examine what it means when something is labeled as an icon. What common features do the people, places, and things we deem to be iconic share? To begin with, an icon generates strong responses in people, it often stands for a group of values (John Wayne), it reflects forces of its time, it can be reshaped or extended by imitation, and it often breaks down barriers between various segments of American culture, such as those that exist between white and black America, or between high and low art. The essays contained in this set examine all these aspects of American icons from a variety of perspectives and through a lively range of rhetoric styles.

Transformation of Tradition and Culture ????????

Author: Miho Tsukamoto
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 154347957X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

Book Description
The book Transformation of Tradition and Culture is a work of comparative literary research and culture investigation. The book studies world literatures from the USA, the DR, Mexico, Spain, Portuguese, and Japan; US cultures such as the Barbie doll; Mexican mural studies; Japanese subcultures, manga, anime, movies, and food culture; media study; and women in society. It is a book of an authors experiences, culture, and historical footsteps with people from all over the world. Sharing ones own culture with people from different cultural backgrounds is vital for everyone to learn about their own culture, languages, society, economy, politics, and customs.

Authentic Fakes

Author: David Chidester
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520938243
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Book Description
Authentic Fakes explores the religious dimensions of American popular culture in unexpected places: baseball, the Human Genome Project, Coca-Cola, rock 'n' roll, the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan, the charisma of Jim Jones, Tupperware, and the free market, to name a few. Chidester travels through the cultural landscape and discovers the role that fakery—in the guise of frauds, charlatans, inventions, and simulations—plays in creating religious experience. His book is at once an incisive analysis of the relationship between religion and popular culture and a celebration of the myriad ways in which invention can stimulate the religious imagination. Moving beyond American borders, Chidester considers the religion of McDonald’s and Disney, the discourse of W.E.B. Du Bois and the American movement in Southern Africa, the messianic promise of Nelson Mandela’s 1990 tour to America, and more. He also looks at the creative possibilities of the Internet in such phenomena as Discordianism, the Holy Order of the Cheeseburger, and a range of similar inventions. Arguing throughout that religious fakes can do authentic religious work, and that American popular culture is the space of that creative labor, Chidester looks toward a future "pregnant with the possibilities of new kinds of authenticity."

Feminist Critique and the Museum

Author: Kathy Sanford
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004440186
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 334

Book Description
Feminist Critique and the Museum: Educating for a Critical Consciousness illustrates the potential of feminist adult education and research to critique but equally to encourage imaginative responses to traditionally patriarchal museum exhibition representations and practices.

The Artificial Body in Fashion and Art

Author: Adam Geczy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147259598X
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
Artificial bodies constructed in human likeness, from uncanny automatons to mechanical dolls, have long played a complex and subtle role in human identity and culture. This book takes a range of these bodies, from antiquity to the present day, to explore how we seek out echoes, caricatures and replications of ourselves in order to make sense of the complex world in which we live. Packed with case studies, from the commedia del'arte to Hans Bellmer and the 1980s supermodel, this volume explores the divide between the “real” and the constructed. Arguing that the body “other” plays a crucial role in the formation of the self physically and psychologically, leading scholar Adam Geczy contends that the “natural” body has been replaced by a series of imaginary archetypes in our post-modern world, central to which is the figure of the doll. The Artificial Body in Fashion and Art provides a much-needed synthesis of constructed bodies across time and place, drawing on fashion theory, theatre studies and material culture, to explore what the body means in the realms of identity, gender, performance and art.

Mondo Barbie

Author: Lucinda Ebersole
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312088484
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
Sparks fly when the adult fantasy of Barbie collides with the child's fantasy in this collection of fiction and a few poems.

Watching YouTube

Author: Michael Strangelove
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442699035
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Book Description
An anonymous musician plays Pachelbel's Canon on the electric guitar in a clip that has been viewed over sixty million times. The Dramatic Gopher is viewed over sixteen million times, as is a severely inebriated David Hasselhoff attempting to eat a hamburger. Over 800 variations, parodies, and parodies-of-parodies are uploaded of Beyonce Knowles' Single Ladies dance. Tay Zonday sings Chocolate Rain in a video viewed almost forty million times and scores himself a record deal. Obama Girl enters the political arena with contributions such as I Got a Crush on Obama and gets coverage in mainstream news networks. In Watching YouTube, Michael Strangelove provides a broad overview of the world of amateur online videos and the people who make them. Dr. Strangelove, the Governor General Literary Award-nominated author that Wired Magazine called a 'guru of Internet advertising,' describes how online digital video is both similar to and different from traditional home-movie-making and argues that we are moving into a post-television era characterized by mass participation. Strangelove draws from television, film, cultural, and media studies to help define an entirely new field of research. Online practices of representation, confessional video diaries, gendered uses of amateur video, and debates over elections, religion, and armed conflicts make up the bulk of this groundbreaking study, which is supplemented by an online blog at strangelove.com/blog. An innovative and timely study, Watching YouTube raises questions about the future of cultural memory, identity, politics, warfare, and family life when everyday representational practices are altered by four billion cameras in the hands of ordinary people.

Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture

Author: Dale Southerton
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 0872896013
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1665

Book Description
The Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture is the first reference work to outline the parameters of consumer culture and provide a critical, scholarly resource on consumption and consumerism.