Class, Culture, Representation

Week 13 Day 1 Discussion Question 4

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At the end of his essay, Winslow suggests that we need alternative texts that “bring comfort to the afflicted and afflict the comfortable by questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, giving voice to the voiceless, and bringing in those on the margins of society.” He adds, “The margins can be unspeakably painful places to be and there are few more honorable tasks for the student of culture than to help create a place where the dumped and disregarded can find a tongue.” Arguably, Dogtown Redemption exemplifies the kind of alternative text Winslow is talking about. What do you think? If Extreme Makeover: Home Edition “comforts the comfortable” by sustaining the myth of a classless society, how does Dogtown Redemption subvert that myth?

Author: Holly Allen

I am an Assistant Professor in the American Studies Program at Middlebury College. I teach courses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. cultural history, gender studies, disability, and consumer culture.

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