Fabricating the absolute fake: America in contemporary pop culture

Abstract: The pageantry of Oprah Winfrey's talk show, the Coca-Cola empire, Michael Jackson's turn from the King of Pop into an iconic global recluse: American pop culture - Hollywood cinema, television, pop music - dominates the rest of the world through its hegemonic presence. Does that make everyone a hybridized American, or do these elements find mediation within the other cultures that consume them? Fabricating the Absolute Fake applies concepts of postmodern theory - Baudrillard's hyperreality and Eco's "absolute fake," among others - to this globally mediated American pop culture in order to examine both the phenomenon itself and its appropriation in the Netherlands, as evidenced by such diverse cultural icons as the Elvis-inspired crooner Lee Towers, the Moroccan-Dutch rapper Ali B, musical tributes to an assassinated politician, and the Dutch reality soap opera scene. A fascinating exploration of how global cultures struggle to create their own "America" within a post-9/11 media cul

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• ISBN: 9789053564929
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 184 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Englische Literatur Amerikas ; Englische Literatur

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Amsterdam
• (who): Amsterdam Univ. Press
• (when): 2008
• Creator: Kooijman, Jaap

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-318138
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:26 AM CEST