American Idolatry

Christopher E. Bell is an associate professor of media studies in the department of communication at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, specializing in the study of the ways in which race, class and gender intersect in different forms of children’s media. He is a TED speaker, a diversity and inclusiveness consultant for Pixar Animation Studios, a 2017 David Letterman Award winning media scholar and the 2017 Denver Comic Con Popular Culture Educator of the Year.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Introduction: Famous for Being Famous      I. Ideas and Cabbages      II. Dude! I Met Elway!      III. Jay-Z Is One of Us, Only Not      IV. When Someone’s Down on the Floor, Kick Them      V. What’s a Ballsy?      VI. You’ve Got the X Factor      VII. Sugarfoot and Babyface      VIII. Wear the Least Amount of Clothes Possible      IX. Why Is She Special?      X. Are You Drunk?      XI. I Want to Break Free      XII. Look at This! I’m Unique!      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index

“this study is a serious take on what the program and the celebrities it creates suggest about American society and culture”—Communication Booknotes Quarterly; “thoroughly researched and in-depth”—Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Television Studies.