Signs of life in the U.S.A. : readings on popular culture for writers

Popular Signs : Or, Everything You Always Knew About American Culture (but Nobody Asked) -- Writing About Popular Culture -- Conducting Research And Citing Sources -- Consuming Passions : The Culture Of American Consumption -- Brought To You B(u)y : The Signs Of Advertising -- On The Air : Television And Cultural Forms -- The Hollywood Sign : The Culture Of American Film -- The Cloud : Semiotics And The New Media -- My Selfie, My Self : Identity And Ideology In The New Millennium -- American Paradox : Culture, Conflict, And Contradiction In The U.s.a. [edited By] Sonia Maasik And Jack Solomon. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Signs of Life in the USA works in the classroom because students love to talk and write about popular culture. Signs of Life teaches students to read and write critically about pop culture by providing them with a conceptual framework known as semiotics, a field of study developed specifically for the interpretation of culture and its signs. Signs of Life, written by a prominent semiotician and an experienced writing instructor, has been extensively updated to account for the rapid evolution of contemporary trends and student interests. It features insightful themes with provocative and current reading selections that ask students to think analytically about America's popular culture with questions such as: How has niche advertising impacted minorities? How has have television and the Internet shaped our current political climate? Signs of Life provides students with the academic language necessary to analyze the significance of our shared cultural experiences. "Using popular culture as a framework for academic writing, Signs of Life in the USA starts with what you know: the movies, TV shows, music, social media, and advertisements all around you. A close examination of this material will help you become an expert critical reader and will take your writing to the next level." -- Back cover