hilfer - barthesian texts of bliss in pop cult

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Inversion and Excess: Texts of Bliss in Popular CultureAuthor(s): Anthony C. HilferSource: Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Vol. 22, No. 2, An Issue Devoted to PopularCulture Studies (SUMMER 1980), pp. 125-137Published by: University of Texas PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40754602 .Accessed: 24/12/2013 10:49

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InversionndExcess:Texts f Bliss 127

the ther and, opular rt draws n high rt nly ydeprivingtof ambiguitynddanger:

Kitsch eems o appropriate rt by robbing t of thedemonic, ot ust ts aura" . . but ts dangers. ven fyouassume hat rt stherapeutic, oumust irst xperiencehepity ndterror f a tragedy efore inning he atharsistmay hen rovide. uchunsettling motions repreciselywhat itsch perates gainstn ts rge o avoid lldifficulties,whether f perception, xecution, r reception. t gives otpain, utbromides, otdeepquestions, ut asy nswers.5

The ppropriate ay ostudy opular rt would eto "differ-entiate etween arious enres f iterary itsch yfocusing nthe particular attern f reassuranceachprovides."6

But f here s nversionnd ubversion ithin ertain opulardetective ovels,s well s detective ilms, orror ilms, opularsongs, nd oforth, he bsolutenessfHolquist's istinction reaksdown nd perhaps he ppropriate ay ostudy opular, ot omention

igh,rt would e to examinet for ariable

atternsf

reassurancend ubversion. eeder nd Rabinowitz ind, n theirrespectivessaysnthis ssue, n nverted orror attern nd ninverted etective attern nnovels enerallyaken samong hedefining xamples f their enres.n Red Harvest, ashiellHam-mett's etective arrator olves he murder ystery" ear hebeginningf thenovel ut manipulates is lient o as to have heopportunity f tayingntown o precipitate wenty-three oremurders. hevictims f his omplex ouble-crossystem rethem-selvesmostly etrayers ndkillers, o ustice, n a fashion, ay e

served; ut he hero's cknowledged otivesrenot reassuring:"Yourfat hief f police ried oassassinate e. don't ike hat.I'm ustmean nough o want o ruin im or t. Now 'm going ohavemy un."7n the ourse f "being he ife f the party,"killparty, heOpfinds imself going lood imple."8 hus, nanearly lassic f the Americanough-guyetective ode, hepredilectionf the genre or andomlyscalating iolence nd self-righteouslyustified adismsself reflectivelyarodied.

Ofcourse, he vant-garde etaphysicaletective tory nvertsthe more enteel nglish etective ode.9 ut n E. C.Bentley'sTrent's ast Casewefind n acknowledgedlassic f the Englishmodewhich imultaneouslynverts hismode.TheEnglishgenre eassuresytransformingeeminglyrute henomenandrandom vents nto ignsclues) nd signsnto coherent ignsystem the econstructionf the rime, ieldinghe dentity fthe murderer). iolence nd rrationalityre onvertednto







Anthony hannel ilf r •128

heightenedrder nd rationality s the detective econstitutesisworld patially ndtemporally, ynchronicallyelatingeeminglydisparate henomenanto constellationfmeaningnddiachron-ically edeeming he ime yrevealinghe rue ast. n sum, hedetective eassuress of world ransparentoreason ndmoralityby performing perations nalogousothose f the cientistrationalizingatural vents nd the iterary ritic ationalizingtext.10n Bentleysnovel hedetective's econstruction,n extra-ordinary ct of ntelligence,ogicallyccounts or very pparentanomaly, ully roving ts ase. n the penultimateection f thenovel his econstructionscompletely erified- xcept hat hemurder ictim as really suicide ndthe deceptions f the up-posedmurderer o eadthe police way rom he vidence f hisguiltweremotivated yhisknowledgehat e s nnocent. aterstillwediscoverhevictim ied not by suicide ut n accidentresulting rom is omplicatedcheme oincriminatehe upposedmurderer. oth he detective's ndthe upposedmurderer's riv-ilegednterpretationsf events- nterpretationselatingllknown

facts nto n elegantly oherent attern- reultimately rroneous,thus emonstrating,s the detective dmits, he impotence fhuman eason."11o at east n the evel f rational ertainty,generallyentral othe detective enre's attern f reassurance,Bentley's ovelsnot reassuring;perfect ogical olution o themystery f the past spossible, ut he xactmatch f uchsolution ith xistential ealitysnot.

Bentley's ovel oesreassurenother mportant espects. heonetruly icked haracter n the novel ailsn all his chemesoentrap thers nd destroys nlyhimself hrough conjunction f

events ofortuitous hat necanonly uppose quasi-providentialmoral orce nderlyinghe equence f upposedlyhance ccur-rences. he nversion f the detective lot onvention, hen, llthe more onfirms hegenre'smoral onvention.t seems nde-niable, owever,hat degree f tension s created ythe oppo-sition f two onventions hich re xpected o reinforce neanothermutually. rent's ast Case,wemay ay, s no more hanrelatively eassuring.

Astrain etween ormuland nversion,tructural rame ndtextual xcesssfrequent nough n the popular ulture lassicsto be constitutive. uch lassics ombine he ttributes f whatBarthes alls he text f pleasure" ndthe text f bliss":

Text of pleasure: he ext hat ontents, ills, rantseuphoria; he ext hat omes rom ulture nddoesnotbreakwith t, s inked o a comfortable ractice f reading.







Anthony hanneil ilf r 130

Agatha hristie. heMurder f RogerAckroyd mploys he e-assuring etective ovel onvention f a perspectivehift herebyChristie's ero,Hercule oirot, odes eeminglynrelated atainto coherent ystem f signs, text dentifying hemalefactor.As the narrator uts t, Every ewdevelopmenthat rises slike he hake ougive oa kaleidoscope-he thing hangesntire-ly naspect.17n the ast hake henarrator s revealed sthe mur-derer. n relation othe narrative ndmoral onventions f thedetective tory, his utcome sboth isturbing ndreassuring.Christie iolates he rule" hat Watsonian arrator a kind fco-detective)hould ever ethe killer, ut he light isturbancethismight ause s balanced y ourretrospectiveealizationfhowwellkempt re he moral onventions f hegenre- nrereadingwefind ow ften henarrator asgiven way is asicallyillainousoutlook: I don't hink ou're ery ogical," objected. Surely fa woman ommitted crime ikemurder, he'dbesufficientlycold-bloodedoenjoy hefruits f t without nyweak-mindedsentimentalityuch srepentance."18ut urely touch f dis-

turbance lmost utomaticallynheresnanynarrative hereinwriter upes eaderntoparticipatingna wicked onsciousness.Howfar idwegoalongwith henarrator's iew f things, is-as weretrospectivelyiscover- ssentiallyainted onsciousnessof them? n the nd hings urn ight ideup,but werewe momen-tarily t home n a morallynverted orld?

I deliberatelyhoseTheMurder f RogerAckroyd s an ex-ample ecause t s relatively onventional,eassuring,ndcon-servativein Radway's ense, s defined n this ssue). f there sanelement f disturbancevenhere, t s a fortiori ikely n othercases.Christie'sess ypical hriller, ndThenThereWere one, smore vidently nsettling.n this ovel ll the major haracters reguilty nddieviolently, n escalation f the partial uilt ndpartial iolence f the English etective ovel nalogousoHam-mett's scalation f the onventional loody-mindednessf theAmericanenrenRedHarvest. hristie's ovel acks he eassuringclosure f detective iction herein, sAuden as hown, heexposure f the guilt f the murderers ess mportant han heexposure f the relative)nnocence f everyone lse.19 ndThenThereWere one nverts heformula f reassurance-I'm notguilty ecause hatOther s"- nto n mplicationf universalndirredeemableuilt. f course, hevictims re ll murderers thusnot Us)so ustice, na fashion, aybeserved, ven hemurdererof the murderers losing he irclewith is uicide. ut he genreof revengeragedy hich hristie's ovel evivessproblematic,vigilanteustice articipatingn the viciousnesst punishes. he







Inversion ndExcess:Texts f Bliss 131

most leasurablespect f the novel s also tsmost isturbing-the eader'snjoyment f he heer ngenuity f he murder attern,anenjoyment ne can share n this etectiveless ovelwith nlyone haracter: hemurderer. s he etective-murderernChristie's"Three lind Mice" the ource f herperennially unning lay,TheMousetrap)ells character: The murderer's njoying im-self. hat's heonething 'm quite ure f.'"20 uch delectationisevidentn the xplanatory anuscript eft ythe murderernAndThenThereWere one. t shows n hisgamesmanship:achmurder orrelated oa linefrom henursery hyme, Ten LittleIndians."

In onesense he mposition f a semantic r mythemic rdersubsumingxistential vents san element nthe hriller's atternof reassurance:he motive iolence f murder sreduced o thecoolcalculation f a puzzle.But his oolness tself sthreateningin that hemurderer's ery ackof eriousness,f moral epth,iscentral ohismenace. hus he ntrinsicmmorality f thedetective orm- tsplayfulness ithmurder-is oregrounded.21Themurder ictim shorrificallyocked nto n nternalizedsequence oth ogical ndexistentiallybsurd; rappednsomeoneelse'shermeneuticircle, e dies ocomplete pun. There saswell heunpleasantnversionf the reassuringssociationsfchildhood ursery hymesonvertednto blueprint ormurder.Worse et, t s clear hat uch onfidencenchildhoodnnocenceismisplaced. charactern "Three lind Mice" xplicateshe itletext:

"Three BlindMice' . . Now come o think f t, t sa gruesomeittle hyme. ota nice ittle hyme t all.Butchildrenikegruesomehings. oumayhavenoticed hat?That hymesvery nglish- hebucolic, ruel nglishcountryside.She cut off heir ailswith carving nife.' fcourse childwould ove hat- could ellyouthings boutchildren-"22

Themurderersn "Three lindMice" nd n AndThenThereWere one re both n their nderlying entality ruel hildren.

It would eperverseoconclude hatMrs. hristie asof theavant-gardearty ithout nowingt. There sa crucialackofdepth, f reflection, f final hilosophicalmplicationnher seof mystery onventions. bove ll,her rickinessemainsn thelevel fplot, arely ecomingngagednher ather ooden rose.23Nonetheless,oarrive t themetaphysicaletectivetory newouldnot have o nvert o much sextend ome f Christie's evices.







Anthony hanneil ilf r 132

To self-reflectivelyraw n such evices dges hem nto meta-physics nddiscomfort.

I have arlier rgued hat nRed Harvest ashiellHammett oesedgeAmerican ough-guyonventions ver he ine;criticsofHammetts most opular ovel ave oundts alconmetaphysicaland ts anguage roblematic.24hemovies f Alfred itchcockare nother ase n point.Here he very limsinessf the reassuringframes, nable o enclose he xcessivemages f metaphysicaldoubt nd visceralerror, repart f the inister lackhumor25of he ilms. he black umor imultaneouslyistanceshehorror-a sort f reassurance,omewhat ooling he heer isceral eactionsincited y he erroristicmages- hilencreasinghe sychologicalmenace hroughtsdehumanizingffect. nPsycho his ffect,interpretable utresisting asyrationalizing,s built n a set ofdialecticalensions etween live nd dead,human ndobject,inner nd uter, elf nd ther, llof hese eing nited s nstancesof the vulnerabilityf ntegraldentity- n archetypal heme fhorror ilms. his hreat nheresn the mages: hebloodflowing

down he drain f the bathtub, hebloodbeingmopped pbyNorman ates. he private, nclosed low f ife as been onvertedinto visible, xternal low f death, near nspeakableynec-dochefor he onversion f firm nto iscous ndtheultimateviolation f private dentity hat s the death rocess. ne ofMarian rane's yes, etached rom he ital nity fher xpressions,somovinglyevelatoryf her ntense ndemotionally enerousrelations ith thers, ecomesmechanicallyixed n death sit ssuperimposed,nan extremely isturbing isual un, n the metaleyeof the drain ownwhich er lood spouring.26hefilm'simages remore mportant han ts dialogue, ut uch ialoguesthere s,foregroundedy ts arity, einforceshismenace. ormanBates, urrounded ystuffed irds, ells isvictim o be that heeats ike bird.Amore laborate unon the ame heme xtendsthroughout hefilm. orman xcuses is mother" o Marian iththe ine, She sn't uiteherself oday."Doubly rue, ince heis a preservedorpse ndhe s she.Thepun sexpanded hen eexplains hat she's s harmless s one of those tuffed irds"26andcompleted s Norman-become-Mothereflects asif coulddo anything ut ust it nd tare ike ne of his tuffed irds.27Themurders ave,nfact, llbeen ommitted y he eadmother,thusmaking blackhumor okeout of the tandard orror otifof the Undead. hroughout hefilm he known ndunknownmysteries repoised gainst achother;we knowwhatNormandoeswith he odies, ut s that he ame uestion s what ecomes








of the dead?Thetruemystery fPsycho s that f the othernessof schizophrenianddeath.

Theprolonged onologuef the psychiatrist rovides sort freassuranceothe paradox f dentity: herealNorman as beentaken ver yhis antasy fhis eadmother, ll his an bepsycho-logicallyxplained,ndso on. This s plausible nough, ut heeffect snot t all the reassuringne of an abstract xplanationdisplacinghedisturbance f anexistential vent. he explanatoryreassurance

which ardly nyiewer f he movie ver

emembers)isoverpoweredyanexcess f mages ndoing omination.nthisHitchcockianmbience f awakened utunnamed ears nddesires,he udience's eactionannot ut bemorally roblematic.The udiencemust eel creepy neasinessn ts distance, musedby horror, nd n ts participatory ulnerability,rawn nto hehaunted ouse f Norman ates's ndHitchcock's ind s hyp-notically sthe detective-victimrbogastsdrawn pthe taircaseto hisdestruction.

Thedetective, rbogast, asdrawn ohisdissolutionnpursuitof a rational nswer othe puzzle f Marian's isappearance;heviewer, owever,s n quest f the rrational, erhapsnvestigatingsomethingikehis ownpotential isappearance. n DonaldBarthelmes "HidingMan," heprotagonist, lapsedCatholic,hiding rom ursuing riests t a cinema evoted o endless erunsof horror ilms,dmits avingsuggestedomy onfessor hatcertain spects f the itual ompared nfavorably ith heresur-rection cene n The Bride f Frankenstein." e ater uestions,"CanBane-Hipkissa pursuer] bsorb his ice heologicaloint,that nebelieves hat necan,follows hat isionwhichmostbrilliantlyxalts ndvilifiesheworld?"28 orksike sycho efusecatharsis ut ar rom voidinghe emonic yway f asy nswers,they resent hedemonicnthe form f anunassimilablexcess.Having een easednto wareness ithout eingmorally rrationally ontained, hedemonic ecomes nervous resence.Indeed igh rt lassics iffer rom hose f popart hroughgreater ltimate, fhard-earned,eassurance,issolvingn order oreintegrate. igh rt ends oward reater epth, owardmoral ndphilosophicals well saesthetic losure.29f ourse, uch losure,from Barthesian econstructionistoint f view, anbeachievedonly y a measure f complicity ith narcotizing ultural yth-ology. itchcock,n urn, sopen, issociated,erminallyisturbing,overdoingilificationerhaps.30

Dissociationndexcess renot imited ofiction ndfilm. tfirst hought rock lassicikeBuddyHolly's Peggy ue" seems







Anthony hannell ilf r 134

disturbing nly n ts pparent eflection f total acuity. onsiderthe first erse ndchorus f the written ext:

Ifyouknew eggy ueThenyou'dknowwhy feel lueAbout eggy, yPeggy ueWell, loveyou,gal,yes, loveyou,Peggy ue.Peggy ue,Peggy ue,Ohhowmyheart earns oryouOh,Peggy, y Peggy ueWell, loveyou,gal, . .31

What ouldbe more anal han his laint f anadolescentursednot onlywith nreciprocatednfatuation, nd elf-pity, ut withanadvanced ase of echolalia? ut sperformed, Peggy ue" isatexture f xcess. he musicalext irectly ontradictshe erbaltext-^he om-tom eatof the rhythm sviscerally,exuallym-mediate, sopposed o the onventionalized laintiveourtship fthe erbal ext. he ong sthis pposition, resentinghe dolescentsexuality f the 1950sasanunmediatedplit etween surfacestructure f diffident nddecorous ourtship nda deep tructureof sadomasochisticexual rive. hetonal ext, hat s,Holly'sdelivery f the ong, lays oth nds gainst hemiddle, aryingbetweenowtones xpressivef penultimate ut ndfalsettosqueaks "Oh howmyheart earns oryou") exaggeratingecor-oushomagento nmistakable arody. nechoral iff, Pretty,pretty, retty, retty eggy ue," combines fine diocy finfatuated epetition ith lasciviousloatingn the voice one.The

song owerfullyxpressesnd

ronicallyomments n the

actual dolescent ension f the 1950s, nd s both n and out ofthe game ndwonderfullyware f how t s played. Therewassequel: Peggy ueGotMarried"- erhaps hedecoded he ext?)

At this oint, t s only air obring p a strong bjection omyargument, hich s that ome f mymain xemplars- ammett,Hitchcock, olly- re, nfact, vant-gardertists laying ff itschconventionsnprecisely hemanner olquist rilliantly escribes.Holquist,n fact,makes his bjection.32ut, hen, hese rtistswere escued rom he ontemptible itsch ategory nly elatedly,if t all-their tatus s till ebatable.t seems hat opular ormulashave not nfrequently ealized otential or pinning ut theirown nversive,xcessiveountercurrents. olquist's uggestedmethodology or opular ulture ould bebroadened o an nvesti-gation f thevarying odes nd degrees f tension etween eas-surance,nversion,ndexcess n high, vant-garde,ndpopular








culture lassics. his ort f comparativetudywould eveal,suspect, hat ertain opular ulture lassicsre haracterized essby their rameshan ytheir xcesses33 ndcanbestbe read notin either-or erms f reassuranceersus ubversion,ut n terms fthe dialecticnterplay etween hese oles.

TheUniversityf Texas t Austin

Notes1. Bernard osenberg nd DavidManningWhite, ds., MassCulture: he

PopularArts n America Glencoe, llinois:Collier-Macmillan,964).Anexception s LeslieFiedler's ssay n comic books s a subversive opartform: TheMiddle gainst oth Ends."Rosenberg ndWhite'sMassCultureRevisitedNewYork: Van Nostrand einhold, 971)isnot comparablyinteresting.

2. MarshallMcLuhan, The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man(1951 rpt. Boston:BeaconPress, 967),p. 59.Cf. . A. Richards, h. 3,"The nterinanimation f Words," hePhilosophy f Rhetoric London:Oxford niv. ress, 971).I amsuggestingn interinanimationf genericconventionsnalogous o Richards' nalysis f the playoff f words withincontext.

3. SeeRolandBarthes, /Z, rans. ichard MillerNewYork: Hill ndWang, 974).

4. SeeBarthes,Writing egree ero, rans. nnette avers nd ColinSmith Boston:BeaconPress, 970).Astudy long he ines f S/Zcouldbeeasily erformed pon ny orpus f vant-garde riting. eneed dictionaryof postmodern nd avant-gardeonventions. eeBarthes'Mythologies,rans.Annette avers NewYork: Hill nd Wang, 972),for Barthes' nalysis f theconventions f popular ulture.

5. MichaelHolquist, Whodunit nd OtherQuestions:MetaphysicalDetective tories n Post-War iction,"NewLiterary istory, (Autumn1971),137.6. Ibid.,pp. 137-38.

7. DashiellHammett, edHarvest, NewYork: RandomHouse 1972)p. 60.

8. Ibid.,pp. 139,146.9. SeeJohn awelti, dventure, ystery, nd Romance Chicago:Univ.

ofChicago ress, 976), pp. 80-191,for sustained nalysis f the differencesbetween he womodes.GeorgeGrella's Murder nd Manners: he FormalDetective ovel,Novel, (Fall1970),30-48,fascinatinglyissects heEnglishmode.

10. The critic's ob of work sgenerally osynchronicallyeorder nd, n asense, efeat, he rtist's issociations,hus unctionings a detective f thetext's atent oherence nd a murderer f ts xcesses. f.most riticism fT. S.Eliot,with hemajor xception f HughKenner, horemystifies hetext.

11. E. C. Bentley, rent's ast Case 1913; rpt. leveland:World ublishingCo.,1946),p. 238.

12.RolandBarthes, hePleasure f the Text, rans. ichard Miller NewYork: Hill nd Wang, 975), p. 14.







Anthony hanneUHilf r •136

13.Ibid.,p. 38.14. Ibid.,p. 45.15. Richard oirier, What s English tudies, nd f You KnowWhat hat

Is,What s English iterature?" artisan eview, 7, 1970),51.16.Ibid.,pp. 51-52.17.Agatha hristie, heMurder f Roger Ackroyd NewYork:Pocket

Books, 973),p. 156.18. Ibid.,p. 4. SeePeterRabinowitz's ssay n this ssuefor discussion

of the onventionalspects f Christie's ritings.19.SeeW.H.Auden, The Guilty icarage," n TheDyer'sHand New

York: RandomHouse, 968), pp. 153,

158.20.Agatha hristie, ThreeBlindMice," n The MousetrapNewYork:

Dell,1977),p. 60.21. Asnoted nd played roundwith n ThomasDeQuinceysMurder

Considered s Oneof theFineArts.22.Christie, ThreeBlindMice,"p. 71.23. There ssemantic lay n The Murder f RogerAckroyd. t the nd

the narrator-murdereroasts f hisclevernessn constructing arrative is-directions nd gapswithout aving ver irectly ied.

24. Seeespeciallyrving alin, TheMetaphysical alcon," n ToughGuyWriters f the Thirties, d. DavidMadden Carbondale, 11.:outhern llinoisUniversity ress, 968), pp. 104-9, and StevenMarcus' Introduction," oDashiellHammett, heContinental p (NewYork: RandomHouse, 974).25.Two of the main eatures f surrealist rt, humour oir nd amourfou, re staple f much opular rt s well, houghn he atter ase enclosedwithin he pparent eassurancef conventional rames. f. the xcessivenecrophiliacmour ouof the detective ero n the film aura. For extendeddefinitions f these erms, eeAndré reton, Préface" nd commentaries,inAnthologie e l'humour oir Paris:Livre e Poche,1970)and Breton,L'amour ou Paris:Gallimard, 976).

26.Richard .Anobile, d.,Alfred itchcock's sycho London:PanBooks, 974)is a screenplayllustrated ith ,400frames rom he film. heimage havenoted son pp. 110-11.

27.Ibid.,pp. 77,75,83,254.28.DonaldBarthelme, HidingMan," n ComeBack,Dr. CaligariGardenCity,N.Y.: Doubleday, 965), pp. 22, 25.29.Hitchcock's esthetic losure eightens he bsence f moral nd phil-

osophical losure. he terms igh, vant-gardendpopular reused oosely.It isonepurpose f this rticle oemphasize owthe ines lur, ut wouldemploy more recise erminologyould find ne. Cawelti omes loserthan most n Adventure, ystery, nd Romance ut s not ntirely ree romthe endency ounderstate he onventionality f high rt nd overstate hatof popular rt. High rt eems requently onfused ith ealism,n aestheticcategory onfused ith historical ode.Pre-nineteenth entury rt sshaped y andplays ff gainst ormulaiconvention nmuch hefashionthat Cawelti emonstrates ormodern opular rt.

30.Perhaps hevalid bjection gainst hebestpopular rt sthat t s toovicious ather han ootame. n this ase,the mostnaive ritics, ewspaperreviewersnd PTA committees, ight e in the right.31.Copyright PLCommunicationstd.32. In conversation.33.Richard oirier uggestspplying performative esthetic ith n

emphasis n discordant exture oboth high nd popular ulture nhispre-viously oted ssay. Seenote 5.)An lertness odisplacednddiscontinuous







Inversion nd Excess: Texts of Bliss 137

energies nd to the nterinanimation f high nd popular orms haracterizesthe writings f SusanSontag nd LeslieFiedler s well s those f Poirier.Afine xtended emonstration f such nterinanimation s Alfred ppel'sNabokov's ark CinemaNewYork:Oxford niv. ress, 974),which tressesthe elf-reflectivelay obe found npopularworks unning rom ilms ocomic trips. inally, shouldnote hat here re certain ilm nd televisionperformers hoproject ppealing orms f excess nto whatever arts heyplay:MichaelWoodnotes hat Glenn Ford . . contributes reatwashes ftorment nd strangled epressionoanymovie e s n," and DavidThorburnacutely nalyzes he ualities f paineddiffidence nd battered olerance hat

DavidJanssen rings ohistelevision oles. Wood,America n theMovies[NewYork:Dell,1973] , p. 84;Thorburn, Is TVActing Distinctive rtForm,"New York Times, 4 Aug.1977, p. 19,col. 1.)These ctors workwell nratio o the bility f producers nd directors ofind ehicles ppro-priate o their xcessive rojections TheBigHeatandHarry-O.

Theabove sof course nly small ampling f criticism hat hows highawareness f the frequency f excess npopular ulture rtifacts.

hilfer - barthesian texts of bliss in pop cult

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