Document Type
Article
Abstract
[First paragraph]
These preachings are from the gospel according to Reverend Billy, spiritual leader of the Church of Stop Shopping (qtd. in Kalb). For several years, Reverend Billy has been waging a guerilla war in Lower Manhattan against the likes of Starbucks and Disney, including agit-prop performances where he brandishes stuffed animals atop tall poles like skulls adorning savage palisades. His inversion and subversion of these multivalent emblems of consumer culture reinforce the anti-consumer message he delivers in our era of late capitalism and globalization. His conspicuous utilization of stuffed animals highlights the manner in which these ubiquitous and inconspicuous creatures live in the realm of the parodic and the serious. With Reverend Billy's cautionary words in mind, I would like to chart some of the strands that will help us to understand the unique place and position of these unusual creatures.
Repository Citation
Putnam, Walter. "Stuffed Animals and the Predicament of Culture: Lost in the Bedroom Jungle." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 3, no. 3, 2003, pp. 1–20. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol3/iss3/9
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