ABSTRACT
One of the great truisms regarding cultural production since the advent of postmodernism is that all forms of art and entertainment have become merely one form of appropriation or another, whether it be called pastiche, parody, revivalism or just plain retro. The problem with this "common knowledge" is that it finally doesn't tell much at all about the particularity of different forms of re-articulation. The first significant, widespread reevaluation of popular culture, specifically in regard to its binary relationship with "high art," occurred in Britain and the United States from the late fifties to the mid-sixties. The increased emphasis on the resonance of images outside the realm of museum art also distinguished the early work of Cindy Sherman who, through her particular strategy of appropriation, conflated the concerns of personal expression and the cultural impact of popular media images.
