{"product_id":"pleasure-and-pain-in-us-public-culture-9780817361709","title":"Pleasure and Pain in Us Public Culture","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eUnraveling the intricate dance of pleasure and pain in contemporary American culture\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Mainstream news and social media often highlight presentations of pain that invite a voyeuristic, pleasurable experience, whether the result of war, disasters, crime, accidents, or other catastrophes. This collection of essays explores pleasurable pains and painful pleasures, showing how they pervade contemporary western public culture. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Deploying methodologies drawn from psychoanalysis, rhetoric and communication, political theory, and visual culture, \u003ci\u003ePleasure and Pain in US Public Culture\u003c\/i\u003e offers insightful criticisms and theories about how pleasure and pain function in public discourse, media, and everyday communication practices. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The contributors provide a sample of fascinating range of news reportage, television, film and cinema, stage drama, comic performances, street art, and other forms of popular culture. The media cited and analyzed include Spike Lee's films, Afrofuturism, autoethnography, and the #MeToo movement. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The collection takes up engrossing topics such as the cathartic allure of pain, ethical dilemmas surrounding public displays of suffering, and the transformative power of narratives that confront trauma. The essays also draw connections between theory and real-world outcomes, explore the implications of enjoying traumatic comedy, and link the natural world to otherwise mundane instances of interspecies violence. Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination hearings and what they suggest about witnessing trauma is also discussed. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePleasure and Pain in US Public Culture \u003c\/i\u003ewill change how a reader sees the world. It imparts a startling vision of western culture permeated by pain and pleasure. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristopher J. Gilbert\u003c\/b\u003e is associate professor of English in Communication and Media at Assumption University and author of \u003ci\u003eCaricature and National Character: The United States at War\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWhen Comedy Goes Wrong\u003c\/i\u003e. His work has also appeared in numerous journals. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Louis Lucaites\u003c\/b\u003e is professor emeritus of Rhetoric and Public Culture at Indiana University. He is author, coauthor, and editor of many works, most recently, \u003ci\u003eThe Public Image: Photography and Civic Spectatorship\u003c\/i\u003e, coauthored with Robert Hariman. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Alabama Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50869450080530,"sku":"9780817361709","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_31d047de-40ed-48c8-b63a-cc9f758a155f.jpg?v=1737758279","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/pleasure-and-pain-in-us-public-culture-9780817361709","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}