ABSTRACT
This chapter turns to the world of popular culture, arguing that it might be the most important space where cynicism is taught and reinforced, primarily because most do not think of the indirect learning that occurs in consuming it. The cultivation of cynicism in popular culture emerges through a series themes and tropes that dominate it, including negative portrayals of politics and politicians, the celebration of wealth and greed, negative representations of the working class, poor and minorities, anti-intellectualism and the ways social change, or lack of it, is combined with antidemocratic messaging around the American monomyth. It also briefly explores a subgenre labeled “submissiveness before fate,” where characters ultimately choose against changing their lives. The chapter concludes by arguing for the power of more positive and diverse storytelling within the pop culture ecology along with multiple literacy education to empower people to understand the effects media is having on them and ways to combat it.
