Continuities in Popular Culture: The Present in the Past & the Past in the Present and Future

Rating:
Summary: Lives Up to the Title
Review: This is a well-researched book that adds to our understanding of the continuities of popular culture. A wide variety of popular culture contexts are discussed. David Crouch, for example, looks at how cultural meanings are represented in landscape while Sherrie A. Inness views the ideology of girls in girls' scouting novels.
Morris B. Holbrook's essay on the new nostalgia is a particularly interesting chapter. He talks about discovering the joys of popular music as he was entering adolescence and how it shaped his perception. Within that context he discovered the force of nostalgia. Like others in society, he learned that his buying patterns were influenced by popular entertainment. He notes, "In general, these echoes of the past form part of the cultural fabric of contemporary society. In particular, they exert an irresistible effect on consumer behavior. Indeed, their role in the consumption experience serves as the main theme of the present essay" (p. 83).
He goes on to discuss the implications for baby boomers. The issue of the collection cycle is discussed. One's motivation for acquiring is also addressed.
Nostalgia, as expressed through various media forms is his next topic. He talks about magazines, television reruns, classic films, and old music. He goes on to categorize the genre according to decades.
Three orders of nostalgia are listed: third order or interpreted nostalgia, second order or reflexive nostalgia, and first order or simple nostalgia.

This book is helpful in connecting the past with the present, with implications for the future in popular culture.