Depth of Shallow Culture: The High Art of Shoes, Movies, Novels, Monsters, and Toys

Albert J. Bergesen

Paradigm Pub, Jan 15, 2007 - Social Science - 133 pages

Come take a closer look at ordinary footwear, like sneakers, or children’s toys and Saturday cartoon TV shows, or make a comparison between Don Quixote and Rambo. Although some regard popular culture as shallow, this book reveals that it is more often complex, deep, and meaningful—and subject to the style changes we associate with high art. Bergesen shows how complex philosophical ideas of reincarnation are embedded in Transformer toys; how sneakers have gone through a life cycle of style types; why the decline of empires like Spain and the United States led to fictional characters like Don Quixote and Rambo; and why monsters from Japan look different than those from the United States.

What people are saying

Review: The Depth of Shallow Culture: The High Art of Shoes, Movies, Novels, Monsters, and Toys

User Review  - Summer - Goodreads

The entire time I was reading this, I was waiting for the part where the author said, "Ha ha, I was joking, of course no one thinks this." But alas, it never came. This book continued to be a mess ...

About the author

Albert J. Bergesen, Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona, is the author of numerous books and articles. He co-authored God in the Movies (Transaction, 2003) with Andrew M. Greeley and Cultural Analysis: The Work of Peter Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas (Routledge, 1984) with Robert Wuthnow, James Davison Hunter, and Edith Kurzweil.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Depth of Shallow Culture: The High Art of Shoes, Movies, Novels, Monsters, and Toys; Studies in Comparative Social Science Series
• Author: Albert J. Bergesen
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Paradigm Pub, 2007
• ISBN: 1594512744, 9781594512742
• Length: 133 pages
• Subjects: Design / Fashion; History / Civilization; Social Science / Customs & Traditions; Social Science / Media Studies; Social Science / Popular Culture; Social Science / Sociology / General