popular culture

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• SOURCE: Forbes
  8/5/2020
  

  Epic Lego Battles Are A Smash On YouTube

  A subculture of Lego and military history enthusiasts has achieved notoriety for posting stop-motion videos of historic battles, despite the official non-violence policy of the building toy company. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/5/2020
  

  The Revealing and Disturbing Story of America, Told Through 20 Years of Reality Dating Shows

  Reality dating shows, for better or worse, have focused a lens on the state of love, sex and relationships in American society. Here is a list of shows that define each of the 20 years of the genre (and might be historical documents someday?)

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• SOURCE: NPR
  7/28/2020
  

  A New Book Traces The History Of Boy Bands, The Pop Phenomenon 'Larger Than Life'

  For reasons that she explores in her new book, "Larger Than Life: A History Of Boy Bands From NKOTB To BTS", Maria Sherman says boy bands don't get the same respect as other music acts, especially their rock peers.

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• SOURCE: The New York Times
  7/26/2020
  

  As a Teenager, I Hated Johnny Carson. Then Came the Pandemic.

  As a teenager, I thought his ‘Tonight Show’ was a bland, uncool relic. Now I appreciate his deadpan humor and the loose weirdness of his interviews.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/12/2020
  

  Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind

  by Douglas Brinkley

  Historian Douglas Brinkley and the Nobel laureate Bob Dylan discuss the COVID pandemic, the effects of electronic media, and American history in music in a wide-ranging interview. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/12/2020
  

  ‘Gone With the Wind’ is also a Confederate Monument, but on Film instead of Stone

  by Nina Silber

  Criticism of the film isn't a case of applying present values to the past. Critics in the 1930s recognized that the film and its source novel glorified white supremacy and denied black claims to citizenship rights.

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  6/10/2020
  

  'Gone With the Wind' Reignites Debate as Hollywood Wrestles with its History

  Debate immediately ensued at the 1936 publication of Mitchell's novel, with its nostalgia for plantation life, portrayal of happy slaves and threatening freed blacks, and sympathy toward the Confederate cause.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/4/2020
  

  Shut Down All Police Movie and TV Shows. Now

  The author argues that movies and TV have shaped Americans' view of policing with dangerous real-world consequences.

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• 5/31/2020
  

  Little Richard: Bold, Pioneering, Complex, and Unapologetic

  by Elwood Watson

  Little Richard left a lasting musical and cultural legacy because of his talent and his willingness to be more boldly black and sexual than other artists dared.

• 
• SOURCE: Jezebel
  5/20/2020
  

  Get in Shape Girl: A Century of Working Out from Home

  by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

  The home fitness industry grew by creating and addressing gendered insecurities about masculine strength and feminine attractiveness. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/11/2020
  

  In Jerry Stiller, the Rage of Jewish Fathers Found a Hilarious Outlet

  Jerry Stiller mined a rich comedic vein that was rooted in cultural conflict between Jewish immigrants and their American-born children.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/12/2020
  

  In Netflix’s ‘Hollywood,’ One Movie Fixes Racism. Hooray!

  Ryan Murphy’s revisionist series is laughably self-satisfied and willfully naïve about complex real-world problems. I also kind of enjoyed it.

• 
• SOURCE: TIME
  5/7/2020
  

  4 Movies That Got World War II Right, According to a Historian

  Here are four films that accurately depict life during and after the war, according to Rob Citino, Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/10/2020
  

  Little Richard: An Ecstasy You Couldn’t Refuse

  Little Richard was a challenge to 1950s proprieties: to segregation, to musical decorum, to chastity, to straightness.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/8/2020
  

  Ian Whitcomb, Rocker Turned Pop Music Historian, Dies at 78

  Ian Whitcomb forsook pop stardom to study and preserve forms of music popular before rock and roll.   

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• 4/26/2020
  

  Tiger King: Lurid Netflix Smash Can Illuminate Southern Queer Cultures (If You Look Closer)

  by John Howard

  Tiger King viewers should look past the show's outrageous elements to consider the political, economic and legal factors that shape queer life in the American south.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/19/2020
  

  Dylan's 'Times They Are A-Changin'' Lyrics for Sale for $2.2 Million

  "The Times They Are A-Changin'", written by Dylan in 1963 and released on his 1964 album of the same name, is regarded as one of the most iconic protest songs of the 1960s.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/14/2020
  

  ‘Mrs. America’ Tells the Story of the Women’s Movement from the Dark Side of the Force

  There’s no mistaking that “Mrs. America” is Schlafly’s show, giving her everything she lacked as a media caricature: shape, complexity and even some empathy for her personal struggles and her own experiences (whether she acknowledges them or not) of being discriminated against as a woman.

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• SOURCE: IndieWire
  4/13/2020
  

  ‘The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel’: Why the Lifetime Biopic Resonates With Black Women

  Credited with bringing Gospel music to the mainstream, the five Clark sisters overcame humble beginnings in Detroit to achieve international fame as icons of the Gospel music industry.

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• 4/12/2020
  

  The Other Booths

  by David O. Stewart

  The notoriety of the Lincoln assassination has obscured the other Booths in history, but some were as well known as John Wilkes--or even better, at least until he pulled the trigger in the president’s box at Ford’s Theater, 155 years ago this week.