Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 351 g
How the media sold us a fairytale
Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 351 g
ISBN: 978-0-415-72870-6
Verlag: Routledge
The West has never been more affluent yet the use of anti-depressants is on the increase to the extent that the World Health Organisation has declared it a major source of concern. How has this state of affairs come about and what can be done? Television and advertising media seem to know. Wherever we look they offer countless remedies for our current situation - unfortunately none of them seem to work.
The Happiness Illusion explores how the metaphorical insights of fairy-tales have been literalised and turned into commodities. In so doing, their ability to educate and entertain has largely been lost. Instead advertising and television sell us products that offer to magically transform the way we look, how we age, where we live –both in the city and the countryside, the possibility of new jobs, and so forth. All of these are supposed to make us happy. But despite the allure of ‘retail therapy’ modern magic has lost its spell.
What then are the sources of happiness in our contemporary society? Through a series of fairy-tales The Happiness Illusion: How the media sold us a fairytale looks at topics such as age, gender, marriage and rom-coms, Nordic Noir and the representations of therapy on television. In doing so it explores alternative ways to relate to the world in a symbolic and less literal manner – it suggests that happiness comes by making sure we don’t fall under the spell of the illusionary promises of contemporary television and advertising. Instead, happiness comes from being ourselves – warts and all. This book will be of interest to Jungian academics, film, media and cultural studies academics, social psychologists and their students, as well as reaching out to those interested in fairy-tale studies, psychotherapists and educated cinema goers.
Zielgruppe
Postgraduate, Professional, and Undergraduate
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
Acknowledgements. Foreword. Introduction - Once upon a time … Nadi. Section One - There was a Prince/ss … Transnational fantasies of masculinity. Snow White and the Huntsman: the fairytale of gender and the female warrior. The second loss of androgyny: the fairytale of dualism. Section Two - The Quest, The Old Wise Helper and the Magical Object… Crumbling rejuvenation: archetype, embodiment and the ‘Aging Beauty Myth’. Finding the golden egg: illusions of happiness in an age of consumer capitalism. The self-knowledge industry and myths of happiness. The shadow of redemption: the Grail and the self-knowledge industry. Section Three - May All Your Wishes Come True … Engaging marriage: rom coms and fairytale endings. The myth of authentic self-actualisation: happiness, transformation and reality TV. A difficult task: Sarah Lund and the crime of individuated happiness.
