Fabricating the Absolute Fake - revised edition: America in Contemporary Pop Culture - Revised Edition

Jaap Kooijman

book: Fabricating the Absolute Fake - revised edition

Open Access Published by Amsterdam University Press 2014

Fabricating the Absolute Fake - revised edition

America in Contemporary Pop Culture - Revised Edition

Jaap Kooijman

In the series American Studies

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048519552

Overview
Contents

About this book

When rock star Bono told Oprah Winfrey that America is an ideal that is supposed to be contagious, the talk show host was moved to tears. Such an imagined America, rather than the nation-state USA, is the topic of Fabricating the Absolute Fake. Pop and politics become intertwined, as Hollywood, television, and celebrities spread the American Dream around the world. Using concepts such as the absolute fake and karaoke Americanism, the book examines this global mediation as well as the way America is appropriated in pop culture produced outside of the USA, as demonstrated by such diverse cultural icons as the Elvis-inspired crooner Lee Towers and the Moroccan-Dutch rapper Ali B. This revised and extended edition includes a new chapter on Barack Obama and Michael Jackson as global celebrities and a new afterword on teaching American pop culture.

Author / Editor information

Kooijman Jaap :

Jaap Kooijman is Associate Professor in Media Studies and American Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Reviews

"A brilliant, thoroughly enjoyable work of cultural critique, this book teaches us that interpreting the behemoth of American popular culture does not have to involve a polarized choice between naïve celebration and disgusted condemnation. Kooijman takes seemingly exhausted concepts like Americanization and turns them on their head. [...] He demonstrates just how flexible the signifiers of Americanness can be when they circulate globally, materializing in surprising forms across film, television, and other popular media."
- Anna McCarthy, New York University

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	1
Table of Contents Open Access Download PDF	5
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	7
Additional Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	9
Introduction. Fabricating the Absolute Fake Open Access Download PDF	11
1. We Are the World. America’s Dominance in Global Pop Culture Open Access Download PDF	23
2. The Oprahification of 9/11. America as Imagined Community Open Access Download PDF	43
3. The Desert of the Real. America as Hyperreality Open Access Download PDF	69
4. Americans We Never Were. Dutch Pop Culture as Karaoke Americanism Open Access Download PDF	95
5. The Dutch Dream. Americanization, Pop Culture, and National Identity Open Access Download PDF	121
6. Yes We Can, This Is It. America and Celebrity Culture Open Access Download PDF	147
Conclusion. Let’s Make Things Better Open Access Download PDF	169
Afterword. Teaching the Absolute Fake Open Access Download PDF	175
Notes Open Access Download PDF	187
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	209
Index Open Access Download PDF	221

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 230
Keywords: American pop culture; American dream; cultural icons; karaoke Americanism

eBook

Published: April 26, 2014
ISBN: 9789048519552