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The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture Paul A. Cantor

The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture By Paul A. Cantor

The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture by Paul A. Cantor


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The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture Summary

The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture: Liberty vs. Authority in American Film and TV by Paul A. Cantor

Popular culture often champions freedom as the fundamentally American way of life and celebrates the virtues of independence and self-reliance. But film and television have also explored the tension between freedom and other core values, such as order and political stability. What may look like healthy, productive, and creative freedom from one point of view may look like chaos, anarchy, and a source of destructive conflict from another. Film and television continually pose the question: Can Americans deal with their problems on their own, or must they rely on political elites to manage their lives?

In this groundbreaking work, Paul A. Cantor explores the ways in which television shows such as Star Trek, The X-Files, South Park, and Deadwood and films such as The Aviator and Mars Attacks! have portrayed both top-down and bottom-up models of order. Drawing on the works of John Locke, Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, and other proponents of freedom, Cantor contrasts the classical liberal vision of America -- particularly its emphasis on the virtues of spontaneous order -- with the Marxist understanding of the culture industry and the Hobbesian model of absolute state control.

The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture concludes with a discussion of the impact of 9/11 on film and television, and the new anxieties emerging in contemporary alien-invasion narratives: the fear of a global technocracy that seeks to destroy the nuclear family, religious faith, local government, and other traditional bulwarks against the absolute state.

About Paul A. Cantor

Paul A. Cantor is Clifton Waller Barrett Professor of English at the University of Virginia, USA. Among his wide-ranging and acclaimed writings on film and television, Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization was named one of the best nonfiction books of 2001 by the Los Angeles Times. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.

Additional information

CIN081314082XG
9780813140827
081314082X
The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture: Liberty vs. Authority in American Film and TV by Paul A. Cantor
Used - Good
Hardback
The University Press of Kentucky
20121130
488
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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