Adam Kotsko: Why We Love Sociopaths: A Guide to Late Capitalist Television (2012)
Filed under book | Tags: · mass media, philosophy, popular culture, television
“Argues that our fascination with cold and ruthless television characters reflects a broken social contract.
Sociopaths are pervasive in contemporary television, from high-brow drama all the way down to cartoons — and of course the news as well. From the scheming Eric Cartman of South Park to the seductive imposter Don Draper of Mad Men, cold and ruthless characters captivate us, making us wish that we could be so effective and successful. Yet why should we admire characters who get ahead by being amoral and uncaring? In his follow-up to Awkwardness, Adam Kotsko argues that the popularity of the ruthless sociopath reflects our dissatisfaction with a failed social contract, showing that we believe that the world rewards the evil and uncaring rather than the good. By analyzing characters like the serial killer star of Dexter and the cynical Dr. House, Kotsko shows that the fantasy of the sociopath distracts us from our real problems — but that we still might benefit from being a little more sociopathic.”
Publisher Zero Books, 2012
ISBN 178099091X, 9781780990910
107 pages
review (Siobhan McKeown, The Quietus)
review (Steven Poole, The Guardian)
One Response to “Adam Kotsko: Why We Love Sociopaths: A Guide to Late Capitalist Television (2012)”
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Here in Argentina we are very cinics , and we dislike sociopaths in television , we like moralist, because they center the personality …we like Robespierre as a hero of TV