PopPolitics.com - Chicago, IL-based online magazine publication & group blog
Commentary on Popular and Political Cultures
It's easy to imagine a line being drawn between popular and political cultures. We like to think that our TV, our art, our film, our style, our advertising, our music, our video games and our other encounters with the everyday representations of life somehow exist in a separate sphere from our town halls, our campaign trails, our state houses, our courts, our protests, our Congress and the other privileged places where we confront social, economic and political issues in their tangible, "real" form. The line, however, is never that clear. Popular culture guides politics, often possessing a greater influence over our imagination and our decisions than any rule of law. Politics, moreover, invades popular culture, often suppressing or exacerbating concerns that first emerged in other supposedly apolitical venues. Yet all too often they are kept apart — political coverage is found in the "news" section while subjects like film and television are covered in "entertainment" or "lifestyles."
We like to think of PopPolitics as the gray area, the place where it all comes together and begins to make sense. We plan on straddling the line between the two cultures: crossing it, blurring it and erasing it at will. Presidential candidates appearing on Saturday Night Live and cross-over politicians like Jesse Ventura have, obviously, made our job easier. But this isn't about celebrity. It's about context.
Here you'll find articles that go beyond the surface. An op-ed piece on the latest tobacco settlement might be paired alongside an ethnographic exploration into teen smoking culture and a discussion of the history of the cigarette in film and literature. A look at representations of masculinity in HBO's The Sopranos will also consider Susan Faludi's Stiffed and the image of the "alpha male" in the presidential campaign.
At PopPolitics you'll never find us swooning over Hollywood (or Washington) weddings. But our first issue of Culture Clash will look at the history of marriage along with the political and social implications. And every two months or so we'll investigate another topic by bringing together journalists, academics, historians, cultural critics and others to investigate the pop culture and political connections. In between, we'll feature coverage of political events, dispatches from the campaign trail and interviews with authors and historians. We'll serve up essays and analysis that deal with the cornerstones of pop culture — film, music, books, art and television — as well as life on the cultural edge. And we'll provide a diversity of voices that often aren't heard, much less courted. Our vision also includes publishing fiction and poetry because they speak volumes (literally) about the world we live in, as does art — from documentary photography to cartoons.
In his book Virtuous Reality, Jon Katz wrote: "Pop culture doesn't supplant serious news, it absorbs and incorporates it. It's a huge story; cover it."
That's what we intend to do.
Languages
English
Address
- Chicago, IL
Contact
- PopPolitics.com, Christine Cupaiuolo
-
- +1 773 506 1210, Fax: +1 773 442 0958
Related Domains
External Links
- Alexa: PopPolitics.com
| 25 Sept. 2006 |
 |
|
|
