Suggests that students need to learn to "read" the cultural texts surrounding them. Argues that there is great need for including analyses of popular culture in the college curriculum. Presents a unit to help students gain a greater appreciation for the influence that advertising has upon them and the subtlety with which it manipulates people,…

The author admits that he has watched Jerry Springer on occasion. It is a guilty pleasure. The Springer show has come to represent the extremes in the society--perversion, unlikely pairings, lying, and cheating. Liberal Hollywood has been roundly criticized, and justifiably so, over the direction it has taken with much of the entertainment to the…

Ninety-eight articles from the five issues of "Experimental Cinema" are annotated. The magazine appeared from 1930 to 1933 and is credited with stimulating the emergence of world cinema culture in the United States, while demonstrating perceptions of working class interests and even revolutionary projections. (JMF)

The boundaries between entertainment, education, and commercialization collapse through Disney's reach into diverse spheres of everyday life. Disney's "innocence" is a promotional mask covering its aggressive marketing techniques and influence in transforming children into active consumers. Although Disney's films are joyous and…

Argues that people are affected by the pervasive images of advertisers who use signs to imbue products with specific realities. Examines how people use this information about various consumer products in making judgments of other people. (MS)

Both the state and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are instrumental in adult education in Latin America. However, NGOs fear being coopted by the state, and the state fears losing social control. Improving relations between the two sectors is vital to the progress of adult education. (SK)

Public libraries emerged as educational institutions during the second half of the 19th century. Their aim was the intellectual and moral improvement of individuals and societies. After several decades it became evident that public libraries had failed as "people's universities." They came to acknowledge the provision of entertainment as…

Believes that learning must have meaning for students and some promise of application to the real world. Maintains that music teachers cannot educate their students successfully through the traditional methods of instrumental instruction, but must teach by improvisation in order to appeal to each individual student and assist in the…

The main characters in a movie can serve individuals in many different ways, but the usual way is to appear good. In whatever form, stories of individuals are a useful part of popular culture when they offer models of how individuals might save themselves or be saved. However, there are other ways. Villains, monsters, and enemies can be at the…

The author traces the powerful interaction between art and the people which has developed since the eighteenth century, despite admonitions from the critics that popularization of art forms leads to their decline. In particular, he considers the development of film and the public's response to it. (SJL)

Explores reasons why adolescents lose interest in art by focusing on the internal and external disruptions in their artistic development. Discusses the influence of manga, or comics, on the artistic development of children in Japan and relates the characteristics of manga. Addresses the use of manga within the Japanese art curriculum. (CMK)

Traces the changes in the depiction of childhood in science fiction films from the 1950s to the present decade. Argues that the contemporary science fiction representation of the sentimental child is a cultural idealization that opposes the social reality of the vanishing child. (FMW)

Suggests that studying myth, and what it can tell of the history of people's perceptions of values, will provide a basis for future growth. Provides various examples from literature that define myth and relate the power of myth in modern society. (AEF)

Discusses the social processes that undergird the media's influence on children's cultural lives. Discusses stories as cultural tools and how people claim stories as their own. Illustrates how one teacher of seven- to nine-year-olds exploited these processes for children's intellectual, social, and literacy growth. (SR)

Today, "connoisseurship" conjures up images of fusty old men in tweeds arguing over ancient etchings or perhaps the patter of opera buffs as they pass bejeweled into the night. Connoisseurship is neither fashionable nor politically correct. It signifies a focus on works of art rather than issues of power and is foreign to a cultural…