popular culture

This book explores the popular Japanese art form of anime. It will look at the history of anime, the major genres, the important artists, and the impact this art form has had around the world today.

"Readers will enjoy uncovering the secrets, stories, and meaning behind Pop art. The title will also introduce famous Pop art artists such as Andy Warhol and famous works like the LOVE statue in New York City. This title is at a Level 3 and is . . . for transitional readers"--Provided by publisher.

"The creators of the popular website Black Nerd Problems bring their witty and unflinching insight to this engaging collection of pop culture essays on everything from Mario Kart and The Wire to issues of representation and police brutality across media"--.

"In You Are What You Watch, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and data expert Walt Hickey explains the power of entertainment to change our biology, our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and how nations gain power through entertainment. Virtually anyone who has ever watched a profound movie, a powerful TV show, or read a moving novel understands that entertainment can and does affect us in surprising and significant ways. But did you know that our most popular forms of entertainment can have a direct physical effect on us, a measurable impact on society, geopolitics, the economy, and even the future itself? In You Are What You Watch, Walter Hickey, Pulitzer Prize winner and former chief culture writer at acclaimed data site FiveThirtyEight.com, proves how exactly how what we watch (and read and listen to) has a far greater effect on us and the world at large than we imagine. Employing a mix of research, deep reporting, and 100 data visualizations, Hickey presents the true power of entertainment and culture. From the decrease in shark populations after Jaws to the increase in women and girls taking up archery following The Hunger Games, You Are What You Watch proves its points not just with research and argument, but hard data. Did you know, for example, that crime statistics prove that violent movies actually lead to less real-world violence? And that the international rise of anime and Manga helped lift the Japanese economy out of the doldrums in the 1980s? Or that British and American intelligence agencies actually got ideas from the James Bond movies? In You Are What You Watch, readers will be given a nerdy, and sobering, celebration of popular entertainment and its surprising power to change the world"--.

Superfans are not just consumers; they are participants in a fan culture that can include millions of other people with similar tastes and beliefs. And some fans are so committed they use their fandom as a creative outlet; they produce fan fiction, art, videos, comics, costumes, and songs to honor their idols.

"From . . . Margaret Atwood comes a . . . collection of nonfiction . . . [essays] which grapples with such wide-ranging topics as: Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories? How do we get rid of the immense amount of plastic that's littering our seas and lands? How much of yourself can you give away without evaporating? Is science fiction now writing us? So what if beauty is only skin deep? What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism? Is it true? And is it fair? In over fifty pieces, taken from lectures, autobiographical essays, book reviews, cultural criticism, obituaries, and new introductions to her own body of work (including The Handmaid's Tale thirty years after its initial publication) as well as that of other writers, we watch Atwood aim her . . . intellect and . . . humor at the world, and report back to us on what she finds. From asking what society's youth expects from its elders (2004), to pondering the philosophical underpinnings of debt (2008, not surprisingly), to encountering a mysterious new platform called Twitter (2009), to asking if it is, in fact, too late to save the planet (2015) or what forces have been unleashed in the age of Trump (2016), and culminating in a . . . meditation on grief and poetry in the wake of her own loss (2020)"--Provided by publisher.

Alphabetically arranged entries examine more than three hundred of the most notorious criminals and murderers in United States history and explore how their stories have been glorified by the media.

"A history of the thinkers, writers, and artists who shaped intellectual culture in Cold War Europe and America"--Provided by publisher.

"Essays about 1990s popular culture, politics, sports, literature, music"--Provided by publisher.

A guide to the Smithsonian's first permanent exhibition on American pop culture with a in-depth focus on theater, music, sports, movie and television objects.