I’m profiled in the AJCU’s “Connections”

I’m honored to be profiled in the recent edition of “Connections,” the online magazine of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. You can check it out right here. 

 

It’s an overview of classes I teach, my research and commentary on mass media issues, popular culture and popular entertainment and why I think certain media products like vampire stories and this summer’s Barbie movie touch the collective nerves in audiences to make these products blockbuster successes. Barbie and vampires I had written about in this blog earlier as well.

 

I also discuss how my research into fandom led me to my interest in the conspiracy theory phenomenon. As I discuss, conspiracy theorists are basically no different from Trekkies writing fan fiction. Just like the fan fiction writer wants to take control of some text he did not originally create and make his own—often subvert it and rewrite it—so do conspiracy theorists want to write their own fan fiction about every day’s headlines. They want to take reality and reinvent, to rewrite those headlines to match the creative fantasies inside the conspiracist’s head. Of all the classes I teach, the one about the conspiracy theories, I firmly believe, is my most important one.

Read all about Barbie's smash hit success!

Have you seen one of this summer’s blockbusters? Since true runaway super blockbusters were very few and far in between all the major duds like The Flash, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Ant Man and the Wasp, Elemental, Fast and Furious…uh, whatever number it was, and underperforming embarrassments like the live action Little Mermaid, there aren't many of them. But the buzziest and money-makingest movie of the summer turned out to be Barbie. If you want to know all about this history of the iconic doll that inspired the film, along with all of its various controversies, check out the special edition magazine in the picture above. While the Barbie juggernaut keeps rolling along and playing in theaters, the magazine is still on shelves everywhere. And pay close attention to the comments about the doll’s long, colorful, controversial history by yours truly.