Tag Archives: analysing popular culture

The Mechanical Bride

Best known for coining the phrase “global village” and arguing that the properties of media itself are more significant in changing our lives than the content it presents, Marshall McLuhan’s first major book, The Mechanical Bride (1951), was a fascinating look at American culture seen through its popular culture, particularly advertisements and comic strips. I first read the book at age seventeen, but his approach to looking at contemporary popular culture as folklore or mythology, has stuck with me all my life, and a tool I have taught to my kids to help them better understand the context of the world they are living in. I find in our own times, that the glitzy color magazine ads and the highly produced TV commercials are particularly interesting in revealing a cultural context in which we live. Continue reading →