Graduation Year
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Degree Granting Department
Humanities and Cultural Studies
Major Professor
Scott Ferguson, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Amy Rust, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Andrew Berish, Ph.D.
Keywords
adulthood, bromance, comedy, homosocial, Judd Apatow, neoliberalism
Abstract
This thesis offers a critical examination of what I call the “Apatow aesthetic” in order to analyze the social processes of growing up in contemporary neoliberal network society. While doctors, psychologists and social scientists still proffer a model of mid- 20th century human development centered around a chronologically-determined life cycle, the Apatow aesthetic imagines a non-linear reality where traditional life events and social practices don’t always correspond to specific age groups. Specifically, I argue, the Apatow aesthetic subjects the spectator to the pleasures and pains of these life-cycle disruptions, and reveals the unfolding of a new cultural shift which challenges the legitimacy of mid-century heteronormative, adulthood.
Scholar Commons Citation
Rosen, Michael D., "The Apatow Aesthetic: Exploring New Temporalities of Human Development in 21st Century Network Society" (2016). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6579
