No, I didn't mean to say "Philosophical Poop," though that would go great with a piping hot side of "Cult Urology." I meant pop. Why? This: The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series.
Now I'm not saying that these books are good - I just heard of them for the first time today, so don't take my word. But, if there is such a thing as a Culturology demographic, I think these would appeal to that sensibility.
For example, take X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse:
Focusing on identity and personal conflict as much as action and adventure, this bestselling series is full of complex characters and storylines that are deeply influenced by important philosophical questions. Through philosophical greats like Aristotle, Sartre, Camus, Levinas, and others, X-Men and Philosophy shows how this remarkable series speaks not only to generations of pop culture audiences, but to the very heart of the human condition.
I'm not gonna lie to you - I don't know shit about philosophy. That's Pete's bag. So here's the mission statement of these books in the words of their publisher, Wiley:
This series aims to change that, showing that philosophy is relevant to your life - and not just for answering the big questions like "To be or not to be?" but for answering the little questions, "To watch or not to watch South Park?"
Not too far from the goal of Culturology, right? If you're still not sold, chew on this:
Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn't make you a "complete idiot." In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching.
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series also comes in Watchmen, Terminator, Batman, House, and other delicious flavors.
i just tried a quick excerpt (a.k.a. Chapter 1) from the X-Men book... it definitely talked down to the reader. negative points!!! i was hoping for some actual serious exploration of the X-Men, not Philosophy 101 using examples from the X-Men movies. hopefully the rest of the book, and the others, are better.
right now, i feel like i should have known better than to trust a philosophy book series i read about in USA TODAY...
You know, USA Today just defies conventional newspaper logic. The paper is total B.S. and contains no valuable information. It is just a print version of the AP Wire, yet it remains in print with enormous distribution. People advertise in that rag, but it's polls and quotes from 'studies' are about as well researched as a copy of Men's Health or Cosmopolitan.
Hundreds of newspapers across the country are struggling to keep the lights on, the storied foreign bureaus of our major metro's continue to fold, hard hitting print journalism is dying, but Bullshit Today keeps on going.
I know that all sounds a lot like the same poorly written blog chatter you see everyday - but seriously - why is USA Today successful where real newspapers like the WSJ are limping along?
i guess because USA TODAY replaces opinion with promotion and "in depth" with "reaffirming" - just a guess. All in all, it's a nice place to read rewritten press releases.
I'll look into doing an extensive write-up of this book for next week or the week following. But needless to say, apparently, it will be negative. (Where'd you get the excerpt, Nick?)
excerpt of the X-Men book:
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/09/04704134/0470413409.pdf
excerpt of Terminator:
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/82/04704479/0470447982.pdf
they're linked off of the individual book pages on the right side.
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