Popular stories and promised lands
Subtitle: fan cultures and symbolic pilgrimages
By: Roger C. Aden.
Series: Studies in rhetoric and communication
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Tuscaloosa
Language: eng
Number of pages: 290
Subjects: Popular culture -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Mass media -- Social aspects -- United States.; Narration (Rhetoric) -- Social aspects -- United States.; Narration (Rhetoric) -- Psychological aspects -- United States.; Fans (Persons) -- United States -- Psychology.; Imaginary places in mass media.; Escape (Psychology) -- United States.
Description: Popular Stories and Promised Lands enters a conversation about who we are, where we've been, and where we might be going by suggesting that possible answers to those questions can be found in the popular stories we encounter at the movies, on television, in popular magazines, and even on the funny pages.

Using the numerous stories we encounter every day as resources, we imaginatively experience our own "places that matter." Fans of the comic strip Dilbert visit Nerdvana, the place where common sense reigns. Fans of the television series The X-Files return to the Funhouse each week for a dose of frightening fun. Fans of the weekly magazine Sports Illustrated play in the American Elysian Fields where democratic efforts at balancing work and play are valued.

Fans of the movie Field of Dreams work as altruistic producers in an alternative garden spot.

Grounded in the author's own experience as a culturally displaced American, and reinforced by the voices of approximately 200 additional fans of the four popular stories, this book makes a compelling case for understanding the alleged vast waste-land of popular culture as a fertile site of individually and communally created "sacred places." Through popular stories, fans can imaginatively experience symbolic pilgrimages to new promised lands that offer a sense of centeredness, spirituality, and creativity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-283) and index.