Category: Popular Culture

By Susanne Freidberg

That rosy tomato perched in your plate in December is on the finish of a superb journey―not simply over land and sea, yet throughout an unlimited and sundry cultural heritage. this can be the territory charted in Fresh. beginning the door of a standard fridge, it tells the curious tale of the standard kept inside of: freshness.

We wish clean meals to maintain us fit, and to attach us to nature and group. We additionally wish them handy, beautiful, and inexpensive. Fresh lines our paradoxical starvation to its roots within the upward push of mass intake, whilst freshness appeared either facts of and an antidote to growth. Susanne Freidberg starts off with refrigeration, a pattern as arguable on the flip of the 20th century as genetically transformed vegetation are at the present time. shoppers blamed chilly garage for top costs and rotten eggs yet, finally, competitive advertising and marketing, advances in know-how, and new principles approximately overall healthiness and hygiene overcame this distrust.

Freidberg then takes six universal meals from the fridge to find what each one has to assert approximately our notions of freshness. Fruit, for example, exhibits why attractiveness trumped style at an incredibly early date. on the subject of fish, we see how the worth of a residing, quivering seize has mockingly hastened the loss of life of species. And of all grocery store staples, why has milk remained the main stubbornly neighborhood? neighborhood livelihoods; worldwide exchange; the politics of style, neighborhood, and environmental swap: all input into this vigorous, spectacular, but sobering story in regards to the nature and price of our starvation for freshness.

By D. E. Wittkower, Lucinda Rush

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card’s award-winning 1985 novel, has been stumbled on and rediscovered by means of generations of technology fiction lovers, even being followed as interpreting by means of the U.S. Marine Corps. Ender's video game and its sequels discover wealthy topics — the violence and cruelty of kids, the function of empathy in battle, and the stability of person dignity and the social sturdy — with compelling components of a coming-of-age tale.

Ender’s online game and Philosophy brings jointly over 30 philosophers to interact in wide-ranging dialogue on matters akin to: the justifiability of pre-emptive moves; how Ender’s disconnected and dispassionate violence is reflected in today’s drone struggle; even if the tip of saving the species can justify the main brutal capacity; the justifiability of lies and deception in wartime, and the way army colleges produce education in advantage.

The authors of Ender’s online game and Philosophy problem readers to confront the demanding situations that Ender’s video game provides, bringing new insights to the assumption of a simply struggle, the virtues of the soldier, the character of youth, and the intense paintings of enjoying games.(less)

At the beginning considered as a cult determine with a robust following among sci-fi and horror movie lovers, Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg emerged as a massive and commercially workable movie director with mainstream hits resembling A heritage of Violence (2005) and japanese offers (2007). together with his specified skill to provide imagery that's either demanding and provocative, Cronenberg creates notable motion pictures, noteworthy not only for his or her cinematic good looks but additionally for the philosophical questions they raise.

The Philosophy of David Cronenberg examines Cronenberg's physique of labor, from his step forward Scanners (1981) via his such a lot recognizable motion pictures resembling The Fly (1986) and newer works. Editor Simon Riches and a collaboration of students introduce the filmmaker's bad storylines and psychologically salient subject matters that exhibit his pioneering use of the idea that of "body horror," in addition to his persevered objective to satirize the trendy misuse of technological know-how and expertise. The Philosophy of David Cronenberg additionally explores the mutation of self, authenticity and the human brain, in addition to language and worldviews. whereas Cronenberg's movies have moved from small-market cult classics to mainstream successes, his interesting visions of humanity and the self suffer.

By Joseph J. Darowski, Mark Edlitz

Comedian booklet viewers expectancies have fluctuated dramatically over the years, and comedian e-book creators have needed to adapt to moving reader issues. considered one of surprise Comic's hottest franchises for 5 a long time, the Avengers have consistently been reflective in their occasions, having tailored to an evolving readership to stay appropriate. This number of clean essays by way of pop culture students examines Avengers tale strains corresponding to the Korvac Saga, Civil conflict, and mystery Invasion, and scrutinizes key characters together with the Black Panther and Hank Pym. Essays discover how real-world occasions resembling the Cuban Missile quandary, the Vietnam warfare, the tip of the chilly struggle, and 11th of September encouraged renowned leisure in the United States.

By Joseph J. Darowski

First showing in 1963, The Uncanny X-Men had a coarse begin, lasting till 1970 whilst the comedian e-book used to be canceled because of low revenues. Following a relaunch in 1975, although, it stumbled on new recognition because of problematic scripting via Chris Claremont and the art of John Byrne. inside many years, The Uncanny X-Men was once considered one of wonder Comics’ best-selling sequence and over the a long time it turned the most winning and well known franchises in comedian e-book background. Spin-off titles, mini-series, multimedia variations, and a hugely improved solid of characters undefined. one of many purposes for the good fortune of X-Men is its robust “mutant metaphor,” which boosts the tales with cultural importance and the exploration of topics similar to societal prejudice and discrimination.

In X-Men and the Mutant Metaphor: Race and Gender within the comedian Books, Joseph J. Darowski completely analyzes The Uncanny X-Men, supplying its historic history and dividing the long-running sequence into particular eras. every one bankruptcy examines the creators and common plot strains, by means of a more in-depth research of the relevant characters and key tales. the ultimate bankruptcy explores the literal use of race and gender instead of the metaphorical or thematic methods such concerns were addressed. This research comprises insights received from interviews with numerous comedian ebook creators, and dozens of illustrations from the comedian ebook sequence. Of specific value are data that song the race and gender of each X-Men hero, villain, and assisting personality. by way of delving into the ancient history of the sequence and heavily reading characters and tales, X-Men and the Mutant Metaphor illuminates a massive pop culture phenomenon.

By Mark T. Conard

By Mark D. White, Robert Arp, William Irwin

Why does not Batman simply kill the Joker and finish everyone's misery?

do we carry the Joker morally answerable for his actions?

Is Batman larger than Superman?

If everybody Batman's example,

may Gotham be a greater place?

what's the Tao of the Bat?

Batman is among the most complicated characters ever to seem in comedian books, photograph novels, and at the monstrous monitor. What philosophical trials does this superhero confront to be able to continue Gotham secure? Combing via seventy years of comedian books, tv indicates, and films, Batman and Philosophy explores how the darkish Knight grapples with moral conundrums, ethical accountability, his id drawback, the ethical weight he consists of to avenge his murdered mom and dad, and lots more and plenty extra. How does this caped crusader degree up opposed to the lessons of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Lao Tzu?

By Ty Burr

With eight Pages of Black-and-White Photographs

In this desirable background of stardom, Boston Globe movie critic Ty Burr lines our obsession with status from the sunrise of cinema during the age of the net. Why will we obsess over the contributors we come to name stars? How has either a dead ringer for stardom and our stars' pictures replaced during the last hundred years? What does big name suggest if humans can now turn into well-known easily for being well-known? With excellent perception and enjoyable examples, Burr finds the advantages and the curses of big name for the superstar and the stargazer alike. From Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, to Archie Leach (a.k.a. Cary Grant), Tom Cruise, and Julia Roberts, to such no-cal stars of this day because the Kardashians and the recent on-line star, Gods Like Us is a trip during the reputation video game at its flashiest, so much indulgent, sometimes such a lot tragic, and finally it truly is so much culturally revealing.

By Roland Kelts

Japanamerica is the 1st e-book that at once addresses the yankee adventure with the japanese popular culture craze--including anime from Hayao Miyazaki's epics to the burgeoning global of hentai, or violent pornographic anime to Haruki Murakami's fiction. together with interviews with the inventor of Pac-man and bosses from TokyoPop, GDH, and different significant eastern and American construction businesses, this ebook highlights the shared conflicts either international locations face as anime and manga develop into an international type of leisure and alter either the us and Japan within the process.

By William Irwin

The correct spouse to Lewis Carroll's vintage e-book and director Tim Burton's March 2010 remake of Alice in Wonderland

Alice?s Adventures in Wonderland has involved little ones and adults alike for generations. Why does Lewis Carroll introduce us to such oddities as blue caterpillars who smoke hookahs, cats whose grins stay after their heads have light away, and a White Queen who lives backwards and recalls forwards? Is all of it simply nonsense? was once Carroll less than the impact? This publication probes the deeper underlying which means within the Alice books, and divulges a global wealthy with philosophical lifestyles classes. Tapping into a few of the maximum philosophical minds that ever lived?Aristotle, Hume, Hobbes, and Nietzsche?Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy explores life?s final questions in the course of the eyes of possibly the main endearing heroine in all of literature.

• Looks at compelling matters reminiscent of conception and fact in addition to how good judgment fares in an international of lunacy, the Mad Hatter, clocks, and temporal passage
• Offers new insights into favourite Alice in Wonderland characters and scenes, together with the Mad Hatter and his tea social gathering, the violent Queen of Hearts, and the grinning Cheshire Cat

Accessible and wonderful, Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy will increase your event of Alice's undying adventures with new that means and fun.