How do we understand Christmas? What does it mean? This book is a livelyintroduction to the study of popular culture through one central case study. Itexplores ... » 

How do we understand Christmas? What does it mean? This book is a livelyintroduction to the study of popular culture through one central case study. Itexplores the cultural social and historical contexts of Christmas in the UKUSA and Australia covering such topics as fiction film television artnewspapers and magazines war popular music and carols. Chapters explore theways in which the production of meaning is mediated by the social and culturalactivities surrounding Christmas watching Christmas films televisionlistening or engaging with popular music and carols its relationship to a setof basic values the idealised construct of the family social relationshipscommunity and the ways in which ideological discourses are used andmobilised not least in times of conflict terrorism and war.Packed with examples ranging from Charles Dickens seminal text A ChristmasCarol Cocacolonisation and Santa Claus Victorian cartoons and Christmascards to Dr Who The Office A Fairy Tale of New York Happy Christmas Waris Over and such dystopian films as Jingle All the Way and All I Want ForChristmas the case studies offer an incisive account of the ways in whichChristmas relates to social change and how such recent events as 911 and thecontinuing conflict in Iraq focus attention on traditional themes of communityand family. Christmas Ideology and Popular Culture offers students andscholars alike an opportunity to explore the hidden agendas of the worlds mostpopular festival and what it means to the outsider looking in. «