Consuming Catastrophe : Mass Culture in America's Decade of Disaster
Other Available Formats
Overview
Horrified, saddened, and angered: That was the American people s reaction to the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the 2008 financial crisis. In Consuming Catastrophe, Timothy Recuber presents a unique and provocative look at how these four very different disasters took a similar path through public consciousness. He explores the myriad ways we engage with and negotiate our feelings about disasters and tragedies from omnipresent media broadcasts to relief fund efforts and promises to Never Forget.
Recuber explains how a specific and real kind of emotional connection to the victims becomes a crucial element in the creation, use, and consumption of mass mediation of disasters. He links this to the concept of empathetic hedonism, or the desire to understand or feel the suffering of others.
The ineffability of disasters makes them a spectacular and emotional force in contemporary American culture. Consuming Catastrophe provides a lively analysis of the themes and meanings of tragedy and the emotions it engenders in the representation, mediation and consumption of disasters.
"This item is Non-Returnable
Customers Also Bought
Details
- ISBN-13: 9781439913697
- ISBN-10: 1439913692
- Publisher: Temple University Press
- Publish Date: November 2016
- Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.85 pounds
- Page Count: 212
Related Categories
