Waisbord’s “Media and the Reinvention of the Nation” drew the interesting parallel of media as a set of institutions involved in “the creation, maintenance, and transformation of cultural membership.” Whether nations were formed form centralized political power or a series of decentralized factors at certain historical junctures, media has had a distinct role to play in both reflecting and defining nationalism through culture.
I wanted to share some of my favorite American culture-shaping media, hoping it will instill a bit of nostalgia as much as inform those who were not a part of my generation.
Media Marking/Informing my Child and Teen Year Culture, Semblance of Nationalism:
- Nintendo
- Barbie
- Disney
- Walter Kronkite? Andy Rooney?
- Presidencies: George Bush Sr, Bill Clinton
- MTV: TRL, ABC (TGI Fridays!)
- Quality Films: Life is Beautiful; Shawshank Redemption; 10 Things I Hate About You
- Terrible, but cultural: Dude, Where’s my Car? Clerks
- Country, Pop, Rap Music
- Church of God
- Seinfeld, Boy Meets World
- Guess
Media Marking/Informing my Adult Years:
- Angry Birds, Wii
- Canon Rebel T2i
- Pixar, Foxlight Pictures
- Internet News: Daily Show, Colbert Report, Drudge, CNN, NYT, Etc
- Presidents: George W Bush, Barack Obama
- Bravo, Fox, NBC: SNL
- Quality Films: King’s Speech, Lord of the Rings, Anchorman
- Terrible, but Cultural: Superbad
- Pop, Indie, Country Music
- Emerging Church
- Glee, Law & Order SVU, Community
- Anthropologie
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