The disruption of ordinary life by a deadly pandemic, an outrageous display of police violence, and a tumbling economy have left Americans isolated, frozen, and terrified. For many, the television screen has become the only contact with the outside world and the only source of entertainment. In recent years, cable television networks have drawn…

"The Undoing," a miniseries on the cable channel HBO, is a crime melodrama that presents unannounced background content reflecting the changing multicultural situation in the United States. A dominant white Euro-American group is becoming merely another group in a crowded field of American subcultures. Although multicultural issues are…

The decline of the soap opera as a major form of popular culture highlights the importance of that form in creating and maintaining a shared subculture for women. Soap operas are contrasted with recent television and film works that present the struggles of women in a different way, highlighting the distinctive features of soap operas as women's…

Two recent movies, "Invictus" and "The Infidel," concern finding ways to negotiate coexistence between intensely opposed subcultures and are used to expand the meaning of multiculturalism. New, emergent cultures that are universalistic, practical, and accommodative are among the many cultures that are given place amid the diversity of modern…

Two recent popular entertainments, the television series "Damages" and the movie "State of Play", have business organizations and people in the roles of villains. As thrillers, they employ the conventions that allow the audience to identify the good guys and the bad guys. The fact that business is an institutional area that can be so easily…

Two different perspectives on the immigrant struggles are found in a documentary about the radio and television program "The Goldbergs" and a science fiction thriller about the treatment of an immigrant alien community. "Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg" is optimistic and celebrates the achievements of an established ethnic community in America and the woman…

Although the national ideology emphasizes that the American Dream is available to immigrants, recent events have made public opinion hostile to two groups, Mexicans and Arabs. Popular culture has played a historic role in presenting sympathetic portrayals of immigrants and their assimilation to American culture. Current depictions of Mexican…

Each of the world's major cities is known in the movie world as the exemplar of a specific mood, atmosphere, or spirit and the natural setting for particular kinds of movie stories. Paris, London, New York, and Chicago have their respective types of picture. Los Angeles has such an urban personality in imagination. Those distinctive story lines…

Why do people refurbish some historical tales from time to time, adding new versions to be displayed publicly? Powerful cultural elements can be invoked for many purposes, and the morals derived from the fables can be quite different. When individuals are blessed with a rich cultural heritage, they may delve into it to find wisdom for themselves…