The Sky is Falling!: How Vampires, Zombies, Androids and Superheroes Made America Great for Extremism

by PeterBiskind (Author), Peter Biskind (Author)

New
Paperback
2018
$11.87

'You'll never look at your favourite movies and TV shows the same way again. And you shouldn't' Steven Soderbergh 'Insanely readable' Slavoj Zizek 'Your book was ... like a bag of pot, with me saying, 'I'm not gonna smoke.' But I was insatiable' Quentin Tarantino on Easy Riders, Raging Bulls In The Sky is Falling! bestselling cultural critic Peter Biskind takes us on a dizzying ride across two decades of pop culture to show how the TV and movies we love - from Game of Thrones and 24 to Homeland and Iron Man - have taught us to love political extremism. Welcome to a darkly pessimistic, apocalyptic world where winter has come, the dead are walking, and ultra violence, revenge and torture are all in a day's work. Welcome to the new normal.

Synopsis

'You'll never look at your favourite movies and TV shows the same way again. And you shouldn't' Steven Soderbergh 'Insanely readable' Slavoj Zizek 'Your book was ... like a bag of pot, with me saying, 'I'm not gonna smoke.' But I was insatiable' Quentin Tarantino on Easy Riders, Raging Bulls In The Sky is Falling! bestselling cultural critic Peter Biskind takes us on a dizzying ride across two decades of pop culture to show how the TV and movies we love - from Game of Thrones and 24 to Homeland and Iron Man - have taught us to love political extremism. Welcome to a darkly pessimistic, apocalyptic world where winter has come, the dead are walking, and ultra violence, revenge and torture are all in a day's work. Welcome to the new normal.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Edition: 01
Publisher: Allen Lane
Published: 11 Sep 2018
ISBN 10: 0241373859
ISBN 13: 9780241373859
Book Overview: A bestselling cultural journalist takes us on a wild ride through pop culture, showing how it paved the way for today's extreme politics.

Media Reviews

The Sky is Falling! is not only insanely readable, it demonstrates how the way for Trump and all kinds of fundamentalists was paved years ago by apparently apolitical popular culture. This is a book about the seismic change at the very heart of today's society, and a book for all those who want to know exactly what a mess we're in. -- Slavoj Zizek
Peter Biskind's kaleidoscopic deep dive into the symbiotic relationship between the narratives of popular entertainment and our political culture had me talking out loud to myself. You'll never look at your favorite movies and TV shows the same way again. And you shouldn't. -- Steven Soderbergh
The only thing better than seeing a good movie is reading what Peter Biskind has to say about it. Who else can explicate the hidden politics of movies and make you laugh out loud at the same time? -- Barbara Ehrenreich
Funny, intelligent and frightening ... What happens when pop turns to pulp? When nothing entertains but disaster? When democracy has all but dissolved in the acid rain of money? Read this marvellous book and find the answers -- Michael Wood
The great chronicler of Hollywood in the late twentieth century turns his critical eye to the cinema and television of the twenty first. Essential reading -- Colin MacCabe
A bold, witty, and brilliantly argued analysis of the role pop culture has played in the rise of American extremism -- Ruth Reichl
Your book was . . . like a bag of pot, with me saying, 'I'm not gonna smoke.' But I was insatiable -- Quentin Tarantino on EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS
Incisive ... Biskind convincingly demonstrates how movies and TV have softened audiences toward an embrace of the extreme * Kirkus *

Author Bio

Peter Biskind is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, a writer for Esquire, and the author of the classic bestsellers Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Down and Dirty Pictures. He lives in upstate New York.