American Dreamtime: A Cultural Analysis of Popular Movies, and Their Implications for a Science of Humanity

(Paperback)

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Americans consider themselves practical, realistic people engaged in building a complex technological civilization. At the same time, however, we spend countless billions on activities that fly in the face of our supposed commitment to down-to-earth realism: our movies, television programs, and sports events seem to be the pastimes of a whimsical, fantasy-ridden people. American Dreamtime explores these conflicting images through an analysis of blockbuster movies, revealing the intimate ties our daily activity and thought have with a world of myth.

Reviews

In his innovative and original study of popular American films Drummond finds a virtual forest of symbolsnot disembodied, language-based meanings but of pervasive images of machines and animals that are generative of the mythic ambiguities of American culture. -- Richard J. Parmentier, Brandeis University
An important work in contemporary social theory. Presents well-constructed arguments that simply cannot be ignored. -- Paul Stoller, author of Yaya's Story: The Quest for Well Being in the World
In a radical challenge to both anthropology and the popular imagination, Drummond's marvelously irreverent wit probes the extraordinary fascination with both animal and machine through which popular entertainments grapple with the boundaries of human identity. -- Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University, USA

Author Bio

Lee Drummond is an independent scholar living in California. He directs the Center for Peripheral Studies.