Poverty in American popular culture : essays on representations, beliefs and policy / edited by Wylie Lenz.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lenz, Wylie, 1972- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poverty in mass media.

Poverty in art.

Poverty--United States.

Poverty.

United States.

Physical Description:

viii, 274 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2020]

Summary:

""In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an "unconditional war" on poverty in the form of sweeping federal programs intended to assist millions of impoverished Americans. Two decades later, President Reagan enacted drastic cuts to such programs, claiming that welfare encouraged dependency amongst the poor and famously quipping, "My friends, some years ago, the federal government declared war on poverty, and poverty won." A wealth of scholarship has addressed these opposing policy positions, as well as the creation and perpetuation of the ideologies informing them, with a particular emphasis on news coverage. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the influence of popular art and entertainment on beliefs regarding poverty's causes and potential cures. These essays interrogate the representation of poverty in film, television, music, photography, painting, illustration and other art forms, with examples ranging from the late-nineteenth century to the present day. They map when, how, and why producers of popular culture represent-or ignore-poverty, and examine the assumptions reflected in, and shaped by, these representations."-Provided by publisher"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Henry Ossawa Tanner and African American Realist Paintings of Poverty in the 1890s p. 25 / Lyrica Taylor

Not Picturing Poverty: The New Woman and Nineteenth-Century Periodical Illustration p. 41 / Anna M. Dempsey

Early Film and Child Welfare Issues: Charlie Chaplin's The Kid p. 58 / Kathleen A. Tobin

Agnes Smedley's Daughter of Earth and Representations of the Social p. 70 / Michael Mayne

Speaking the Language of the New Deal: Efficiency, Poverty and Economic Security in the 1930s Campaign Against Venereal Disease p. 86 / Erin Wuebker

"The Language of Pictures": Images of Poverty in New Deal America p. 112 / Courtney L. Kisat

A Hillbilly, a Bum and an Old Woman Meet a Screwball Redhead: Lampooning the Poor in I Love Lucy p. 123 / Mark Bernhardt

Poverty, Opportunity and Art Legacies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania p. 140 / Katelynd L. Gibbons

Precarious Mobility: Vagrancy in American Pop Culture p. 161 / WLbke Schniedermann

Making a (Third) Space for Learning: Analyzing Urban Education in HBO's The Wire p. 179 / Chad William Timm

"In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World": Poverty and Potentiality in Beasts of the Southern Wild p. 198 / Lauren Riccelli Zwicky

A Place to See: Poverty in American Theater, 1935-2015 p. 213 / Mary K. Ryan

"What You Are About to See Will Make You Question What Matters Most": Poverty Porn, The Briefcase and the Deserving Poor p. 228 / Owen Cantrell

"Welcome to The First 48": Identity, Delinquency and Reality Television p. 247 / Jessica H. Zbeida.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781476664224

1476664226

OCLC:

1120693857