Popular culture surrounds us: It is the products we consume, the movies we watch, the music we listen to, and the books we read. It is on our televisions, our phones, and our computers. Popular Culture in the Twenty-First Century engages with these texts and offers a diverse selection of contemporary scholarship from a wide variety of perspectives. These essays, adapted from presentations at the first annual Ray Browne Conference on Popular Culture held at Bowling Green State University in 2012, participate in an ongoing dialogue about popular culture's importance in both the academy and our...

One of the first full-length academic projects on the television series Smallville, this collection of new essays explains why the WB/CW series is important to understanding contemporary popular culture. The essays are presented in four sections covering broad categories: Clark's metamorphosis to Superman and the influence of his parents and the home; the role of the series' noteworthy female characters; the series' representations of the Other, explorations of identity, and the ways in which characters speak to Clark's own struggles; and audience reception of the series and its position...