Where would I go if I wanted to read about pop culture (in my case, mainly films and music) that was a little more scholarly than just searching CS or going to imbd or something? Say I want insights into a song lyric (say, Joni Mitchell’s “Magdalene Laundries”) that probably isn’t covered other than superficially here or in a review in the daily or weekly press. In the case of movies, critics often play so coy with spoilers that they really don’t do much more than recommend (or not) a movie–when what I’m looking for is analysis of a movie that can no longer be spoiled for me. Is there any sort of serious analytic study of pop culture or am I just out of luck?
Yes; they exist. My area of interest is 60s culture and I have several books that study various aspects of that era in a scholarly way. For example (and I know this is rather arcane) I am interested in UK pirate radio, and yes, most of the books are written by ex-DJs in a fairly trashy style, but I have just bought a book which is an expanded degree thesis; and very good it is too.
A problem with this is how scholarly you want it to be. For example (although I know it’s in the wrong period), there is a book on Joni Mitchell’s Blue period that might fit your bill. I know that whole books have been written - or based - on a single song.
There are many books that analyse films and directors. Perhaps you could expand on what it is that you are not finding in them?
ETA: In fact, I’ve started googling this, and there is a heck of a lot out there. Just put popular culture in Amazon, for example.
I already own that book (and it’s sensational, btw) but I was thinking more of a scholarly ongoing discussion on-line, or of printed scholarly journals devoted to various analyses of pop culture–a magazine on folk music lyrics, for example, that might analyze that song by Joni Mitchell in one article in an issue, and trace out Dylan’s lyrical indebtedness to Woody Guthrie in another article, and look at the Christ-theme in Leonard Cohen’s lyrics in yet another. Or a magazine on 1980s sci-fi films that compares the portrayal of aliens in THE HIDDEN and STARMAN in a thorough, thoughtful way. Either on-line or in print, I’m wondering if there are any serious, in-depth analyses of pop culture that are more elevated than the hit-or-miss discussions that appear in Cafe Society, which are sometimes good but often superficial.