Poverty in American Popular Culture: Essays on Representations, Beliefs and Policy

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an "unconditional war" on poverty in the form of sweeping federal programs to assist millions of Americans. Two decades later, President Reagan drastically cut such programs, claiming that welfare encouraged dependency and famously quipping, "Some years ago, the federal government declared war on poverty, and poverty won." These opposing policy positions and the ideologies informing them have been well studied. Here, the focus turns to the influence of popular art and entertainment on beliefs about poverty's causes and potential cures.

These new essays interrogate the representation of poverty in film, television, music, photography, painting, illustration and other art forms from the late 19th century to the present. They map when, how, and why producers of popular culture represent--or ignore--poverty, and what assumptions their works make and encourage.

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Poverty in American Popular Culture: Essays on Representations, Beliefs and Policy

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an "unconditional war" on poverty in the form of sweeping federal programs to assist millions of Americans. Two decades later, President Reagan drastically cut such programs, claiming that welfare encouraged dependency and famously quipping, "Some years ago, the federal government declared war on poverty, and poverty won." These opposing policy positions and the ideologies informing them have been well studied. Here, the focus turns to the influence of popular art and entertainment on beliefs about poverty's causes and potential cures.

These new essays interrogate the representation of poverty in film, television, music, photography, painting, illustration and other art forms from the late 19th century to the present. They map when, how, and why producers of popular culture represent--or ignore--poverty, and what assumptions their works make and encourage.

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Poverty in American Popular Culture: Essays on Representations, Beliefs and Policy

Poverty in American Popular Culture: Essays on Representations, Beliefs and Policy

Poverty in American Popular Culture: Essays on Representations, Beliefs and Policy

Poverty in American Popular Culture: Essays on Representations, Beliefs and Policy

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Overview

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an "unconditional war" on poverty in the form of sweeping federal programs to assist millions of Americans. Two decades later, President Reagan drastically cut such programs, claiming that welfare encouraged dependency and famously quipping, "Some years ago, the federal government declared war on poverty, and poverty won." These opposing policy positions and the ideologies informing them have been well studied. Here, the focus turns to the influence of popular art and entertainment on beliefs about poverty's causes and potential cures.

These new essays interrogate the representation of poverty in film, television, music, photography, painting, illustration and other art forms from the late 19th century to the present. They map when, how, and why producers of popular culture represent--or ignore--poverty, and what assumptions their works make and encourage.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781476664224
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date: 08/17/2020
Pages: 282
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.57(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Wylie Lenz is an assistant professor of English in the humanities and social sciences department at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, Florida.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi

Introduction: Poverty, Policy, Beliefs and Popular Culture Wylie Lenz 1

Henry Ossawa Tanner and African American Realist Paintings of Poverty in the 1890s Lyrica Taylor 25

Not Picturing Poverty: The New Woman and Nineteenth-Century Periodical Illustration Anna M. Dempsey 41

Early Film and Child Welfare Issues: Charlie Chaplin's The Kid Kathleen A. Tobin 58

Agnes Smedley's Daughter of Earth and Representations of the Social Michael Mayne 70

Speaking the Language of the New Deal: Efficiency, Poverty and Economic Security in the 1930s Campaign Against Venereal Disease Erin Wuebker 86

"The Language of Pictures": Images of Poverty in New Deal America Courtney L. Kisat 112

A Hillbilly, a Bum and an Old Woman Meet a Screwball Redhead: Lampooning the Poor in I Love Lucy Mark Bernhardt 123

Poverty, Opportunity and Art Legacies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Katelynd L. Gibbons 140

Precarious Mobility: Vagrancy in American Pop Culture WLbke Schniedermann 161

Making a (Third) Space for Learning: Analyzing Urban Education in HBO's The Wire Chad William Timm 179

"In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World": Poverty and Potentiality in Beasts of the Southern Wild Lauren Riccelli Zwicky 198

A Place to See: Poverty in American Theater, 1935-2015 Mary K. Ryan 213

"What You Are About to See Will Make You Question What Matters Most": Poverty Porn, The Briefcase and the Deserving Poor Owen Cantrell 228

"Welcome to The First 48": Identity, Delinquency and Reality Television Jessica H. Zbeida 247

About the Contributors 265

Index 267

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