James B. Twitchell
Author of Twenty Ads That Shook the World: The Century's Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All
About the Author
James B. Twitchell is professor of English and advertising at the University of Florida.
Works by James B. Twitchell
Twenty Ads That Shook the World: The Century's Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All (2000) 102 copies, 2 reviews
Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld (2004) 101 copies, 2 reviews
Shopping for God: How Christianity Went from In Your Heart to In Your Face (2007) 76 copies, 1 review
Look Away, Dixieland: A Carpetbagger's Great-grandson Travels Highway 84 in Search of the Shack-up-on-cinder-blocks, Confederate-flag-waving, Squirrel-hunting, Boiled-peanu (2011) 11 copies, 1 review
Associated Works
Dracula: The Vampire and the Critics (Studies in Speculative Fiction, No 19) (1988) — Contributor — 9 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Twitchell, James Buell
- Birthdate
- 1943
- Gender
- male
- Education
- UNC-Chapel Hill (Ph.D)
- Short biography
- James Twitchell is Professor of English and Advertising. He received his PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill and has been at Florida since 1972. He has written The Living Dead: The Vampire in Romantic Literature (1980), Romantic Horizons: Aspects of the Sublime in English Poetry and Painting 1770–1850 (1983), Dreadful Pleasures: An Anatomy of Modern Horror (1985), Forbidden Partners: The Incest Taboo in Modern Culture (1987), Preposterous Violence: Fables of Aggression in Modern Culture (1989), Carnival Culture: The Trashing of Taste in America (1992), Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in America (1995), For Shame: The Loss of Common Decency in American Culture (1997), Lead Us Into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism (1999), Twenty Ads That Shook The World: The Century’s Most Groundbreaking Advertising (2000), Living It Up: America’s Love Affair With Luxury (2002), Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld (2004), Where Men Hide (2006, with photos by Ken Ross), and Shopping for God: How Christianity Went from In Your Heart to In Your Face (2007).
http://web.english.ufl.edu/faculty/jt... - Nationality
- USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Academic but with a flair for good pulp, Dreadful Pleasures has a Freudian’s enthusiasm for sexual (over-?)interpretation. Illustrated and referenced throughout, it begins with a brief dissection of horror folklore and art (gothic novels, cinematic monsters, cave art, Hogarth), before discussing the major modern horror icons in considerable depth: Dracula and Frankenstein get a chapter each, Wolfman and Jekyll & Hyde share another, zombies shuffle by here and there.
The symbols and show more structures of the monsters' tales are interpreted as coded myths of sexual instruction – basically, don’t have sex with your family. Books, films, folklore and fairy tales all get the veiled-incest-rules treatment. (I wasn't surprised to see that Twitchell has written a book all about this subject.) But you can agree with it in part or not at all, and still find much to savour in this lively, literate book. show less
The symbols and show more structures of the monsters' tales are interpreted as coded myths of sexual instruction – basically, don’t have sex with your family. Books, films, folklore and fairy tales all get the veiled-incest-rules treatment. (I wasn't surprised to see that Twitchell has written a book all about this subject.) But you can agree with it in part or not at all, and still find much to savour in this lively, literate book. show less
This is a superb book. Twitchell's seemingly lighthearted and often funny analysis of the democratization of luxury goods frequently digs down into some uncomfortable truths about human nature and culture. The best parts are his merciless skewerings of other academics' hilariously inept and hypocritical attempts to define and analyze the meaning of luxury goods.
My only complaint is that Twitchell's too narrowly focused on actual goods. He could have profitably expanded his analysis into the show more American Bobo's purchases of transient experiences (e.g. ecotours, attendance at alternative music concerts and films, etc.) to boost her status and feelings of moral/ethical superiority. He also wrote this book a bit too soon to recognize the power that organic and 'green' goods have in promoting middle-class feelings of self-esteem.
Twitchell's effusive, allusive, playful style is a delight. He writes better than 99% of the PhDs on this planet. show less
My only complaint is that Twitchell's too narrowly focused on actual goods. He could have profitably expanded his analysis into the show more American Bobo's purchases of transient experiences (e.g. ecotours, attendance at alternative music concerts and films, etc.) to boost her status and feelings of moral/ethical superiority. He also wrote this book a bit too soon to recognize the power that organic and 'green' goods have in promoting middle-class feelings of self-esteem.
Twitchell's effusive, allusive, playful style is a delight. He writes better than 99% of the PhDs on this planet. show less
This is a witty and fun book to read. The author provides a well-researched guide to consumerism with an almost tongue-in-cheek attitude. The history of modern advertising is discussed along with some of the psychological insights and shibboleths of the business. He argues that consumers are not victims of commercialism but have eagerly participate in it. He attacks a host of critics of commercialism, including Thorstein Veblen, Vance Packard, Ralph Nader and John Kenneth Galbraith, show more Effectively rejecting their arguments. The result is a thorough and irreverent view that shares the wealth of capitalism resulting from the "age of consumerism". show less
Branded Nation, James Twitchell’s follow-up to his brilliant Living It Up, is not up to the latter’s standard, but is still a fascinating read.
In BN Twitchell again explores the branding of many aspects of life in consumerist American society. This time he focuses on three formerly non-consumerist institutions – churches, universities and museums – and then identifies and dissects the ways in which branding and marketing are changing these institutions inexorably. He’s critical but show more sympathetic, and generally perceptive.
The book would be a real tour de force if all three sections were as good as the middle one on universities. Twitchell’s a university professor himself, he knows the environment inside out, and he’s utterly devastating in laying bare higher education’s sellout to market forces. He’s also refreshingly free of the ideological cant that most liberal academics resort to in such analyses; rather, he’s identified how supposedly crucial ‘issues’ such as diversity are farces that mask universities’ real concern, i.e. student enrollments and the bottom line.
But the other two sections of the book fall short of this standard. The museums section wanders a bit, and the initial section on churches is not very good at all. Twitchell makes a crucial assumption that undermines his entire analysis, i.e. that the content of what churches teach is fungible. That’s simply not true, so he misses many of the subtleties in this interesting area.
Never the less, Twitchell’s overall analysis is still excellent and insightful. It’s an indictment of the higher education system he’s critiquing that Twitchell’s not an academic superstar – problem is, he tells way too much of the truth, and tells it far too clearly. show less
In BN Twitchell again explores the branding of many aspects of life in consumerist American society. This time he focuses on three formerly non-consumerist institutions – churches, universities and museums – and then identifies and dissects the ways in which branding and marketing are changing these institutions inexorably. He’s critical but show more sympathetic, and generally perceptive.
The book would be a real tour de force if all three sections were as good as the middle one on universities. Twitchell’s a university professor himself, he knows the environment inside out, and he’s utterly devastating in laying bare higher education’s sellout to market forces. He’s also refreshingly free of the ideological cant that most liberal academics resort to in such analyses; rather, he’s identified how supposedly crucial ‘issues’ such as diversity are farces that mask universities’ real concern, i.e. student enrollments and the bottom line.
But the other two sections of the book fall short of this standard. The museums section wanders a bit, and the initial section on churches is not very good at all. Twitchell makes a crucial assumption that undermines his entire analysis, i.e. that the content of what churches teach is fungible. That’s simply not true, so he misses many of the subtleties in this interesting area.
Never the less, Twitchell’s overall analysis is still excellent and insightful. It’s an indictment of the higher education system he’s critiquing that Twitchell’s not an academic superstar – problem is, he tells way too much of the truth, and tells it far too clearly. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 19
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 808
- Popularity
- #31,570
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 11
- ISBNs
- 40