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Philosophy and the Interpretation of Pop Culture
Aristotle analyzed the popular art of his the tragedies and epics. Why should philosophers today not do likewise? Perhaps we can learn something from children's stories by subverting the dominant paradigm of adult authority and admitting with Socrates that we don't know all the answers. Perhaps Batman has ethical lessons to teach that generalize beyond the pages of comic books. Is it better to like Mozart than it is to like Madonna? Kurt Cobain gave voice to the attitude of a generation, singing, 'Here we are, now entertain us.' Is entertainment a bad thing, or could it actually have value-and not just instrumental value?
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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72 people want to read
About the author
William Irwin
132 books131 followersWilliam Irwin is Professor of Philosophy at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and is best known for originating the "philosophy and popular culture" book genre with Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (1999) and The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer (2001).
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 24, 2021
Summary: Interesting collection of essays. Food for thought.
At the core f this has to do with the idea that Pop Culture should not be ignored when we thinking about philosophy or really anything high culture. Instead, it may be telling us something that is interesting about aggregate/collective thought, who we are as thinking beings, where we're at in our thinking at a given moment.
My fav were:
Michael Baur’s essay on American Pie. I had not considered how deep that song’s lyrics are.
Jorge Gracia’s essay on Dracula. I had not thought about the portrayls of this character have modified in popular culture over time. An interesting reflection, though I think he could have taken this further and made a stronger stance on the implications of why this has transformed over time from the original.
The intro had some cool points about high culture vs low culture. Better to prefer one of the other? Jazz.. once low culture, now high culture. Some believe it’s just the oppressed vs the rulers. Another take would be complex vs simple… or is that just condescension?
P. 104 this section points out how hard popular culture is. In things like TV shows or films, they must write the characters to sympathetic/admired by a wide range of different possible people. Intriguing as the world merges into common memes, I think (i.e. if you add the concepts from the book Virus of the Mind).
p. 122 this idea that art is universal, but popular culture seems like something else.
Overall, good read as an intro to the topic.
At the core f this has to do with the idea that Pop Culture should not be ignored when we thinking about philosophy or really anything high culture. Instead, it may be telling us something that is interesting about aggregate/collective thought, who we are as thinking beings, where we're at in our thinking at a given moment.
My fav were:
Michael Baur’s essay on American Pie. I had not considered how deep that song’s lyrics are.
Jorge Gracia’s essay on Dracula. I had not thought about the portrayls of this character have modified in popular culture over time. An interesting reflection, though I think he could have taken this further and made a stronger stance on the implications of why this has transformed over time from the original.
The intro had some cool points about high culture vs low culture. Better to prefer one of the other? Jazz.. once low culture, now high culture. Some believe it’s just the oppressed vs the rulers. Another take would be complex vs simple… or is that just condescension?
P. 104 this section points out how hard popular culture is. In things like TV shows or films, they must write the characters to sympathetic/admired by a wide range of different possible people. Intriguing as the world merges into common memes, I think (i.e. if you add the concepts from the book Virus of the Mind).
p. 122 this idea that art is universal, but popular culture seems like something else.
Overall, good read as an intro to the topic.
Displaying 1 of 1 review