Like Baseball and Apple Pie
Cities and Technology
Manly Men Doing Manly Things
The Rule, Not the Exceptionalism
100
Name ONE symbolic idea represented in this painting
100
Name ONE symbolic attribute NY is characterized as representing in Sinatra/Minelli's song, "New York, New York."
100
Name ONE way the “Marlboro Man” can be seen as a popular image of American masculinity.
100
Name ONE way in which Ansel Adams' work contributes to notions of American Exceptionalism.
200
Name TWO ways Ford's Model-T symbolizes the "quintessential" American car?
1. Fordism represents a Conservative American Dream -- as long as you are "clean and pure" you can succeed. Ford didn't come from money.
2. Representation of an egalitarian society (affordable car, same color, same model for everyone)
3. Representation of American mass-consumerism (the assembly line, minimum wages, etc.)
200
Name ONE symbolic idea represented in this painting
200
Name ONE way Barbie can be seen as a popular image of American femininity.
200
How does the US-Dollar Bill signify American Exceptionalism?
The images on the bill -- the eagle holding the arrows, the pyramid -- the words on the dollar bill “In God we trust” -- imply we are somehow ordained by God in a certain exceptionalist way
300
In "China's Big Mac Attack," what are TWO effects Watson argues McDonald's in China has had?
1. Public fever of American things (e.g. birthday parties; children as consumers)
2. A new form of social space for school children and retirees.
3. Celebration of "clean" and safe food; a safe haven from pollution
300
Discuss ONE way New York is characterized as the prototypical modern American city in The Great Gatsby.
1. Separation of wealth (east egg vs. west egg) as well as class (valley of the ashes)
2. Connection to westward expansion
300
Name TWO ways in which Frederick Turner characterizes the "frontier."
1. The meeting point between savagery and civilization
2. Promotion of individualistic democracy
3. Place of heroism, triumph, and progress dominated by the feats of brave white men.
4. A "free land" awaiting Anglo-American expansion and American democracy to conquer
5. The loss of the frontier: nostalgia and anxiety
300
Name THREE characteristics of America as mentioned by Crèvocoeur's writings
1. A place of enlightenment: of liberty, democracy, and equality.
2. Agrarian democracy: noble close contact with nature.
3. A place where the oppressed masses of Europe are able to pursue their own self-interest as independent landowners
4. A new society plagued by divisions due to slavery and the revolutionary war
5. A place of innocence and simplicity
6. A place of tolerance for religious diversity where religious boundaries will eventually "evaporate"
7. Hope and opportunity, freedom in an unbound social structure
400
Name ONE central argument Suellentrop makes against video games in "War Games."
1. Video games “add to the dehumanization and objectification of human beings”
2. Video games are “disrespectful” to those whose family members have died in the war
3. Video games thrust players into a realistic existence that is far more bleak than the reality they experience
400
In the Apple article, what are TWO impacts the author argues Steve Jobs has had on American culture?
1. Introduction of new technological freedoms -- tech "populism"
2. Democratizing the creation of digital content
3. Popularization of personal computers
400
Name TWO ways in which pop cultural representations of the "cowboy" can be considered problematic.
400
Provide an example of the difference between Whitman's and Ginsberg's poetic definitions of America.