Popular Pleasures by Paul Duncum (Hardback)

£85.00
Available
Product Ref. (e.g. ISBN, SKU)
9781350193406
Published:
23 Sep 2021
Format:
Hardback
Number of pages:
xiii, 229 pages
Dimensions:
246x189x18mm
Weight:
0.854kgs
Author:
Today's many popular aesthetic pleasures - sentimental, violent, vulgar, humorous, erotic - have a long history. Popular culture is often thought to have emerged during the 19th century, but the same pleasures generated by today's popular culture have excited our premodern ancestors for millennia. Popular imagery arouses interest from both the political right and left because both recognize its power to inform, and form, minds. An understanding of aesthetics in relation to visual culture is therefore vital because it is a major means by which ideology is inculcated, so to appreciate its power enhances our understanding of contemporary society. Paul Duncum considers the historical, critical discourses, and socio-political issues raised by aesthetic pleasure in fifteen thematic chapters.
Today's many popular aesthetic pleasures have a very long history. Paul Duncum considers the historical critical discourses, and socio-political issues raised by aesthetic pleasures in fifteen thematic chapters. Using illustrative examples from the past, present, and across cultures, he challenges the idea of any decline of cultural standards and argues that no grounds exist for cultural pessimism. Refusing to condemn popular culture on the basis of taste, he reserves critique for the socio-political ideologies aesthetics invariably serve. Art history, film, cultural studies, and philosophical aesthetics are each employed to show that the sensory/emotional lures of today's popular culture are mostly identical to those of premodern fine art. They include the violent, the horrific, the sentimental, the exotic, the erotic, and the humorous. Some of these pleasures derive from our evolutionary biology; they are all an important part of what it means to be human, and central to understanding contemporary society. Examples are wide-ranging, including British seaside postcards, Disney films, Nazi propaganda, burlesque, modern advertising, as well as many exemplars of fine art. The book reveals fresh insights for all those studying visual culture, art history, aesthetics, media studies, and media and art education.

About the Author: Paul Duncum is Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, USA, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania, Australia.

More Information
Number of pages xiii, 229

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