HUMA 1780 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Timothy Wilson, Fetial, Celebrity Culture

• School: York University
• Department: Humanities
• Course: HUMA 1780
• Professor: Steven Bailey

Document Summary

Narrating illness and recovery: stories as instruments of healing. M(cid:272)ada(cid:373)"s a(cid:373)eri(cid:272)a(cid:374) (cid:272)ulture is (cid:272)hara(cid:272)terized (cid:271)y (cid:272)ulti(cid:448)atio(cid:374) of a (cid:862)rede(cid:373)pti(cid:448)e self(cid:863) Connected to a strong tradition of individualism and an interest in self reliance (emerson) and. O(cid:373)e (cid:862)redee(cid:373)ed(cid:863) preside(cid:374)ts nixon, carter, reagan, clinton, bush , obama pragmatic action. Wide range of cultural sources, protestants christianity, sports culture, entrepreneurship, self help. M(cid:272)ada(cid:373)"s possible downsides include lack od empathy and a failure to appreciate the tragic dimension of experience. All the presidents have a redemption story of correcting themselves. Obamas life story of becoming the president, first black president, racial times, battled against racism and prospered and won. Many forms of redemption narratives have celebrity correlates: several celebrities are redeeming them selves in the categories of romance, sin narratives, victim narratives, resilience narratives, recovery narratives. Celebrities act as proxies and stories regarding their struggles enhance the (cid:862)o(cid:374)e of us/(cid:271)etter tha(cid:374) us(cid:863) (cid:374)ature (cid:272)hara(cid:272)terizi(cid:374)g (cid:272)ele(cid:271)rities today.