The Mouse That Roared

That's the title of one of the books I'm purusing. It's about Disney and kids and culture, and so far, I'm hooked. His basic premise runs like this: "It would be reductionist not to recognize that there is also some excellent programming that is provided to audiences, but by and large much of what is produced on television and in the big Hollywood studios panders to the lowest common denominator, defines freedom as consumer choice, and debases public discourse by reducing it to spectacle."

Now, anything that takes popular media to task for debasing public discourse makes my ears perk up, and so far, Giroux (the author) seems to be very balanced in his approach. He's recognized that Disney is not "engaged in a conspiracy to undermine American youth or deomcracy around the world," and that everbody will interpret the messages from Disney differently--"there are no passive dupes in this script." So his book is shaping up to be a good one. We'll see...

Anybody else ever run into this guy?