Friday, April 6, 2012

Things I've Had Enough Of, Part 1

I've had enough of:  The Philosophy of ________ books

It was a cute idea to do books on the philosophy behind pop cultural phenomena.  Some things, like The Matrix lent themselves to the idea.  And other entertainment franchises tend to lead to obsession in their followers (e.g. Twilight,) so in-depth study seems warranted.  But now it seems half the Philosophy shelves at Chapters are "The Philosophy of..." books.  Do we really want to know The Philosophy of Metallica?

But rather than stopping, it's now spreading to other fields of study.  I looked up "psychology" at the local library, and found that a lot of the top suggestions were Psychology of Something.  In this case, "something" was: Batman, Twilight, Dexter, and Survivor.  Where is this going to end?  I've already seen books on the physics behind various science-fiction creations.  Where else can we go?  The Economics of Mad MenThe Sociology of World of WarcraftThe Kinesiology of Cirque de Soleil?  Someday you'll be able to get an entire PhD related to your favourite pop-cultural franchise.

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