Stanford University Press Blog

Are you getting Caught in Play?

Why is that we get caught up with stories about celebrities even when they have nothing to do with our lives? Why do we spend hours on video games or reading pulp fiction? The activity temporarily assumed a profound significance and the outside world began to fade. Although we are likely to enjoy these experiences in the realm of entertainment, we rarely think about what effect they might be having on us. Precisely because it is so pervasive, entertainment is difficult to understand and even to talk about. 

Peter Stromberg's Caught In Play: How Entertainment Works on You addresses these issues. A recent review of the book in Publishers Weekly describes it as a meta-narrative about being "caught up" in the entertainment world and finds that "Reading this smart commentary on the grand spectrum of entertainment is an addictive experience, a sharp example of the very phenomenon it illuminates."

Caught in Play looks closely at how we engage entertainment and at the ideas and practices it creates and sustains. Even Recent research in cognitive neuroscience and psychology is beginning to clarify some of this. Our brains, we are discovering, are hard wired to automatically imitate what we observe because of a system of specialized neurons called mirror neurons. When we watch a movie or a T.V. show, we become caught up in it and sometimes mimic what we see. As Stromberg's work reveals, entertainment tells us more about ourselves than we are willing to acknowledge: values of
pleasure, self-indulgence, and consumption.

So the next time you're being entertained, think about it: Are you getting caught up?

Pardis Mahdavi on elections in Iran and the Role of Women

Commenting on the continued protests surrounding the disputed presidential election in Iran, Pardis Mahadavi, author of Passionate Uprisings Iran's Sexual Revolution writes:

"Earlier today (Friday, June 17) thousands of protesters marched the streets of Tehran, pumping their fists into the air and chanting “Coup! Government resignation”. Some wore green (to indicate their allegiance to Mir Hossein Moussavi) many did not. Up until now, much of the recent media depictions of the situation in Iran paint a picture of a stolen election, and a discontented public demanding a recount at least, and the installation of their preferred candidate. While the election has presented frustrated Iranians with a catalyst and a reason to protest, what we are witnessing in Iran is not a simple protest over election fraud. Rather, disenchantment with the regime, and the desire to mobilize a civil rights type movement in Iran has been building for many years. This election, the overt nature of repression and fraudulent behavior has given many people the window they were looking for to mobilize a movement that goes beyond election politics. The protesters want change: they want to change the system of Islamic jurisprudence, and fundamentally, they want their rights back. While some might see the protests as “calming down” or “dying down”, the reality is that people have tasted the sweetness of voicing their discontent, and they have no plans of backing down easily."

From advocating for polygamy to enforcing the "morality police," Ahmadinejad has women in Iran fighting for their rights. An article in Salon.com takes a look at the women protesters and their courage, from verbal protest to dying in the streets, as was the case for Neda Agha-Soltani. who has become a symbol for the feminist movement. This article points out that though these types of protests have been going on for decades, this one is different because the world is watching.

Mahadavi remarks in this article, "There is a bit of neoliberal rhetoric. You know, we need to save these women, they're repressed and don't know it,' which is not the case. These women are finding agency in all sorts of pockets, in all sorts of ways. We can identify, but because the situation is so much more complicated than we realize, we really can't understand," she says.

Mahdavi's book Passionate Uprisings tells the stories of Iran's youth and their intertwined quests for sexual freedom, political reform, and a better future – but not a future without risk. The young people of Iran face serious consequences for their attempts to change their social atmosphere. Mahdavi's book shows how sexual politics and youth culture is changing the course of Iranian politics. 

The Invisible Minority: Korean-Americans and Race Relations

Nadia Kim, author of Imperial Citizens Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA, was interviewed recently by New America Media. The book Imperial Citizens examines the origins, nature, and extent of racial ideas about Koreans in relation to White and Black Americans, investigating how immigrants engage these ideas before they depart for the United States, as well as after they arrive. It shows how Korean history has shaped  race relations, from interactions with white soldiers in Korea to interactions with Americans in the US.

In her interview with New American Media, Kim addresses the fact that when Koreans enter the US they become part of our distinct way of life. She first addresses the fact that when Koreans enter the United States they are grouped into one large distinction: "Asians." This term is in fact offensive because it lumps all Asian minorities into the same group, some of which have long and complicated histories with each other. The fact that Koreans are indistinguishable from the Japanese is a disturbing fact because of the love/hate relationship between the two cultures as a result of historical colonization.

Koreans became an even less prominent group in the US because their communities were so tightly knit. Because Koreans do not have as extensive a history in the United States as other Asian groups, they can seem a little harder to reach. However, Kim makes it clear that Koreans did not fade into the American background so easily. She talks about what she refers to as "the unrest" or the 1992 riotsand the tensions afterwords. These riots were the point when Koreans became intertwined in the long history of white/black tension in the US. The riots were sensationalized in the US as a battle between Koreans and blacks and popularized as the "black riots" in South Korea. The media flashed pictures of Koreans on their roofs with guns and stores being looted. Though it was a time of great tension, the Unrest actually fostered an alliance between Korean and black churches. Cultural exchanges took place: scholarships were organized, and black pastors were invited on trips to South Korea.

What Kim calls the Unrest shows how the Koreans were thrust into the racial tensions already existing in the United States, and how Koreans are still severely misunderstood here. Kim's book and interview are gateways to understanding Korean racial history, because, as she puts it, Koreans remain an "invisible and foreign minority here."