American culture in the 1990s

265 Pages·2010·2.52 MB·English

by  Harrison

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American Culture in the 1990s
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Twentieth-Century American Culture
Series Editor: Martin Halliwell, Professor of American Studies, University
of Leicester
This series provides accessible but challenging studies of American culture
in the twentieth century. Each title covers a specifi c decade and offers a clear
overview of its dominant cultural forms and infl uential texts, discussing
their historical impact and cultural legacy. Collectively the series reframes
the notion of ‘decade studies’ through the prism of cultural production and
rethinks the ways in which decades are usually periodised. Broad contextual
approaches to the particular decade are combined with focused case studies,
dealing with themes of modernity, commerce, freedom, power, resistance,
community, race, class, gender, sexuality, internationalism, technology, war
and popular culture.
American Culture in the 1910s
Mark Whalan
American Culture in the 1920s
Susan Currell
American Culture in the 1930s
David Eldridge
American Culture in the 1940s
Jacqueline Foertsch
American Culture in the 1950s
Martin Halliwell
American Culture in the 1960s
Sharon Monteith
American Culture in the 1970s
Will Kaufman
American Culture in the 1980s
Graham Thompson
American Culture in the 1990s
Colin Harrison
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American Culture in the 1990s
Colin Harrison
Edinburgh University Press
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© Colin Harrison, 2010
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
www.euppublishing.com
Typeset in 11/13 pt Stempel Garamond by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 2221 4 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 2222 1 (paperback)
The right of Colin Harrison to be identifi ed as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Contents
List of Figures vi
List of Case Studies vii
Acknowledgements viii
Chronology of 1990s American Culture ix
Introduction: The Intellectual Context 1
1. Fiction and Poetry 35
2. Music and Radio 65
3. Film and Television 97
4. Art and Architecture 133
5. Digital Culture 169
Conclusion: Towards a New Millennium 199
Notes 209
Bibliography 227
Index 237
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Figures
I.1 Growth of inequality in the USA (1960–97) 8
I.2 Anita Hill testifying to a Senate Committee (1991) 15
I.3 O. J. Simpson in car chase (1994) 24
1.1 Toni Morrison and Oprah Winfrey (1996) 39
2.1 Teenage mourning at the Kurt Cobain memorial (1994) 75
2.2 Tupac Shakur on stage (1992) 89
3.1 Military press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1991) 100
3.2 Video footage of Los Angeles police offi cers beating
Rodney King (1991) 105
3.3 Dinosaur meets clone in Jurassic Park (1993) 113
3.4 John Travolta and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction (1994) 115
3.5 The perimeter wall around the set of Titanic, Popotla,
Mexico (1998) 121
3.6 Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander in Seinfeld (1990–8) 123
4.1 Kara Walker, Slavery! Slavery! . . . (1997) 143
4.2 Sarah Sze, Second Means of Egress (1998) 149
4.3 Philip- Lorca diCorcia, Head #1 (2001) 153
4.4 Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (1991–7) 161
4.5 Zhang Huan, My New York (2002) 167
C.1 Riot police at a damaged store in Seattle (1999) 204
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Case Studies
Introduction
Post- feminism and the Backlash 16
The O. J. Simpson Trial 22
Bowling Alone (2000) 31
1. Fiction and Poetry
Paradise (1997) 40
Two Asian American Poets: Lawson Fusao Inada and
Li- Young Lee 48
Frisk (1991) 57
2. Music and Radio
Nirvana (1987–94) 73
Tupac Shakur (1971–96; 1991–present) 87
Napster and Music on the Internet 94
3. Film and Television
Watching the Watchmen: the Rodney King video 106
Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998) 116
The Simpsons (1989–present) 128
4. Art and Architecture
Kara Walker 144
Bill Viola 155
Frank Gehry 161
5. Digital Culture
Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community (1993) 178
Regulating the Net 189
Body Maps: The Human Genome Project and the Visible
Human Project 194
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to everyone who assisted in the process of writing this book.
In particular, thanks to my colleagues in what used to be the American
Studies department at Liverpool John Moores University – Bella
Adams, Ross Dawson, Joe Moran, Joanna Price and Morag Reid – for
taking on some of my teaching duties so that I could spend time on
research. Jo, Ross and Glenda Norquay also provided valuable advice
and feedback on drafts throughout. Pramod Nayar offered com-
ments on several chapters and helped me rethink aspects of the book’s
overall structure. Most of all, I am indebted to Martin Halliwell for his
patience and attention to detail in the role of Series Editor.
I am grateful to artists Philip-L orca diCorcia, Zhang Huan, Sarah
Sze and Kara Walker for their permission to reproduce images of their
work. Thanks also to Ben Andrews, Paul Hegarty, Stephen Kenny,
Clive Moran, James Nicholls and Rowan Wilson for various kinds of
encouragement, discussion and gifts of books.
Finally, my thanks go to my family for all their support, and to
Marie- Anne McQuay, who has been an unfailing source of encour-
agement and ideas and has made many sacrifi ces on my behalf.
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Chronology of
1990s American Culture
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