Images of Postmodern Society : Social Theory and Contemporary Cinema

by Norman K Denzin

• ISBN13: 9780803985162
• ISBN10: 0803985169
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-09-26
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd

Summary

By using a series of studies of contemporary mainstream Hollywood movies - Blue Velvet, Wall Street, Crimes and Misdemeanors, When Harry Met Sally, sex lies and videotape, Do the Right Thing - Norman K Denzin explores the tension between ideas of the postmodern, and traditional ways of analyzing society. The discussion moves between two forms of text: social theory and cinematic representations of contemporary life.Denzin analyzes the ideas of society embedded in poststructuralism, postmodernism, feminism, cultural studies and Marxism through the ideas of key theorists (Mills, Baudrillard, Barthes, Habermas, Jameson, Bourdieu, Derrida and others). He relates these ideas to the problematic of the postmodern self as exposed in cinema centering on the decisive performance of race, gender and class.

Author Biography

Norman K. Denzin is Professor of Sociology, Communications, Criticism, and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vi
Preface	vii
PART ONE: THE POSTMODERN
Defining the Postmodern Terrain	1	(19)
Postmodern Social Theory	20	(9)
Takes on the Postmodern: Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Jameson	29	(24)
Learning from Mills	53	(12)
PART TWO: LEARNING FROM CINEMA
Wild about Lynch: Beyond Blue Velvet	65	(17)
Nouveau Capitalists on Wall Street	82	(13)
Crimes and Misdemeanors in Manhattan	95	(12)
The Postmodern Sexual Order: Sex, Lies, and Yuppie Love	107	(18)
Do the Right Thing: Race in the USA	125	(12)
Paris, Texas: Mills and Baudrillard in America	137	(12)
In Conclusion: The Eye of the Postmodern	149	(9)
References	158	(17)
Index	175	(5)
About the Author	180