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Popular Culture Review
In the first movie-based essay, Richard A. Voeltz shows us that
Hollywood is “Still Dreaming of Africa.” He gives us a short history of
Hollywood’s interest in Africa (which appeared as far back as 1929), offering his
insightful critique on the way to his destination: discussion of the film I Dreamed
o f Africa (released in 2000). He spends the bulk of his time discussing this movie
and how awful it was, concluding: “Hollywood will not give up on making
cinematic meditations about bored, rich, yet soul-searching and sensitive, white
people questing for fulfillment and a new life among the photogenic landscapes of
Kenya and Africa.”
In “The Ethos of Cool vs. The Ethos of Chill,” Steven Carter talks about
how language and changes in language aid the expression of self and the creation
of identity, especially in the postmodern world. In particular, it is important to
note that the words we as individuals use are critical to the formation and display
of our “social selves.”
Robert Sickels’ “Pastoral Dreams in Innisfree, Ireland, U.S.A.” is full of
ageless themes: death/rebirth, the prodigal son, myths of god/goddess, and the
myth of the wonders and joys of the pastoral world. In this case, he argues that
Americans tend to hold the view that the past was better than the present and we
see it through pastoral, green-tinted glasses, longing to “cleanse” ourselves “of the
damage caused by . . . time spent in a complex industrial civilization.” In the end,
the questions remain. In this post-9/11 world, do we still believe in the fantasy?
Have we lost our naivete? Or will we become ever more sentimental about the
past, yearning for a simpler, nicer world?
Lynda Walsh’s presentation of Dan De Quille’s hoaxes is a historical
story from Pop Culture Review's own backyard: the wilds of nineteenth-century
Nevada. De Quille used his masterful tall tales as a form of resistance against
changes being imposed on the West under the guidance of authority from the
eastern United States.
In another blast from the past, Jacqueline Foertsch uses the movie, War
o f the Worlds, in her essay “Bombs Away and Smash Hits at Home” to argue that
the 1953 cinematic version of H.G. Wells’ literary work epitomizes the fright of
the Cold War. In turn, she presents the idea that we were fighting against those
who were alien to us and therefore Other. Ultimately this produced the fear of
invasion of our national identity bordering on a feeling of personal invasion when
the “insulated, protected state, a condition of living within boundaries” was
broken. In other words, technological change and what we now know as
“globalization” broke this country out of its shell, a fearful process indeed.
On a much different note, we are then introduced to a discussion about
shopping. The act of shopping is an expression of self, yet it is also
entertainment. Because of this, shopping also has a dark side. To borrow a
metaphor from the Wizard o f Oz, someone is behind the curtain, behind the
scenes, manipulating our feelings and desires. Read Mark Moss’ “Shopping as an