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What's in Grant's Tome?
Grant McCracken, super anthropologist, has a new collection of essays addressing cultural consumption. Culture & Consumption (1988) has long since attained classic status. Now comes Culture & Consumption II, inquiring into everything from Raymond Loewy's streamlinedness to Marilyn Monroe's "invention of blondness."
Consumption remains profoundly controversial; see, for example, Virginia Postrel's just-posted response to the most recent wave of critics. McCracken doesn't think you are being frozen by too many choices; his interest lies in the meaning with which consumers invest those artifacts they do choose. He's had a lasting influence on reason's cultural critique.
Here's a 1998 piece Grant did for the magazine on "The Politics of Plenitude." Here's his excellent blog; here's the new book's table of contents.
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|6.17.05 @ 12:48PM|#
Marilyn Monroe's "invention of blondness."
Oh, yeah? Jean Harlow would have something to say about that!
Grant McCracken|6.17.05 @ 1:25PM|#
PapayaSF, she gets her due, believe me. Monroe manages to rehabilitate blondness, saving it from its bumb and grind origins. Best, Grant