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Christmas, Ideology and Popular Culture

Online ISBN:
9780748653065
Print ISBN:
9780748628087
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Book

Christmas, Ideology and Popular Culture

Published online:
22 March 2012
Published in print:
26 April 2008
Online ISBN:
9780748653065
Print ISBN:
9780748628087
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press

Abstract

How do we understand Christmas? What does it mean? This book is a lively introduction to the study of popular culture through one central case study. It explores the cultural, social, and historical contexts of Christmas in the UK, USA, and Australia, covering such topics as fiction, film, television, art, newspapers and magazines, war, popular music, and carols. Chapters explore the ways in which the production of meaning is mediated by the social and cultural activities surrounding Christmas (watching Christmas films, television, listening or engaging with popular music and carols), its relationship to a set of basic values (the idealised construct of the family), social relationships (community), and the ways in which ideological discourses are used and mobilised, not least in times of conflict, terrorism, and war. Packed with examples ranging from Charles Dickens' seminal text, A Christmas Carol, Coca-colonisation and Santa Claus, Victorian cartoons and Christmas cards, to Dr Who, The Office, ‘A Fairy Tale of New York’, ‘Happy Christmas (War is Over)’, and such dystopian films as Jingle All the Way and All I Want For Christmas, the case studies offer an incisive account of the ways in which Christmas relates to social change, and how such recent events as 9/11 and the continuing conflict in Iraq focus attention on traditional themes of community and family.

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