High Anxiety

PATRICIA MELLENCAMP is Professor of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is the author of Indiscretions: Avant-garde Film, Video, and Feminism and editor of Logics of Television and three American Film Institute monographs.

" ... acute look at the state of contemporary culture ... A humorous ... book, it yields rewarding advice for our perception of reality and fiction." - Back Stage / Shoot "Mellencamp's ease of movement between the conceptual and the commonplace is the great strength of this work... High Anxiety is an invaluable contribution to the cultural studies debate ... " - Art + Text

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart I: Packaging the Difference: Franchise Culture"The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe"High AnxietyA Method to the MadnessI. DifferentiationPassionate Consumption"Betcha Can't Eat Just One"Death and the MarketII. Obsession (Not Just a Perfume)"Rat Man"Money and CultureIII. DeregulationEconologic: "The Luster of Capital"TV and the FCCThe Global Village or the New World Information Order?IV. Representing Difference(s)"Egad, It's Plaid"Not a Pretty PictureCritical DifferencesAnita HillPart II: Beyond the Pleasure Principle of Television: TV Time, History, and CatastropheV. Shocking Thoughts"Jump Behavior": Rene Thom"From Libido to Anxiety": Sigmund FreudVI. Disastrous EventsBefore the Fall, After the Fall: Baby Jessica and Black MondayDeath, Shock, Art: Kennedy, Walter Benjamin, and Eternal FrameSublime Visions: The Challenger ExplosionDiaster StudiesSeeing Is Believing: "The Great Quake"Aerial Views: Operation Desert StormThe Machine That Killed Bad PeopleNuclear DisavowalCatastrophistsPart III: Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Gossip and ScandalSecret PleasuresFace-ism: "Women through Time"Trival Pursuits: Harping at Harper'sVII. Gossip TheoryScholars, Tourist, EcouteursLosing It: Roseanne and OprahTaking Things Literately: Patricia SpacksA Cry in the DarkVIII. Gossip LawIX. Gossip and the MarketWomen and the National EnquirerIdle Chatter: Syndication and Tabloid TalkLoose Talk: Oprah, Geraldo, and PhilAny Woman's BluesShady Relatives: Jim and Tammy Faye BakkerX. Theorizing AffectIt's a sinA Sexual Detour to Twin PeaksFall from Grace and Narrative AbsolutionKeeping SecretsPart IV: Calculating Difference: The Body and AgeThe Cultured BodyThe LoverNot a Jealous BoneThe Disciplined BodyXI. Obsessive Subjects: RenifleursWomen's BodiesXII. Aging BodiesThe Young and the RestlessThe Life and Loves of a She-DevilMurder, She WrotePart V: Regime of Domiculture: Women and Situation ComedyXIII. GracieXIV. LucyXV. Jokes and Their Relation to TVRoseanneWho's the Boss?Murphy BrownPart VI: Countercultures: Women's EconomiesXVI. Women's Spaces/Women's WorkXVII. Family TherapyRevising the CountercultureXVIII. The Seach for Signs of Intelligent LifeEpilogue: The Condensed VersionNotesIndex