No American television show of the past decade has been vilified as has ""Comedy Central's South Park"". This is the show that has featured, in turn, a nine-year-old boy enmeshed in an affair with Ben Affleck, a maniacal Mel Gibson smearing feces everywhere, and the misadventures of Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo, a talking, bouncing, singing piece of poop. While it's not always an exercise in good taste, ""South Park"" is a socially significant satire that has also devoted entire episodes to interpretations of ""Great Expectations"", Ken Burns' ""Civil War"", and ""Hamlet"". This volume explores the popularity and cultural relevance of ""South Park"" and its place as an artistically and politically worthy satire. Among the topics explored are the show's parody of the processes of manufacturing political consent; its treatments of Shakespeare's plays; the interrogation of anti-tobacco legislation; and the show's creators' seemingly irreverent and dismissive treatment of environmentalism.

This work examines the symbolism of fantasy fiction, literal and figurative representation in fantastic film adaptations, and the imaginative differences between page and screen. Essays focus on movies adapted from various types of fantasy fiction - novels, short stories and graphic novels - and study the transformation and literal translation from text to film in the ""Lord of the Rings"" series, ""The Chronicles of Narnia"", ""Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"", ""Howl's Moving Castle"", ""Finding Neverland"", ""The Wizard of Oz and the Broadway Adaptation Wicked"", and ""Practical Magic"".

Television is awash with newly embraced gay and lesbian themes that have crossed over into the collective pop culture of America. Dramas like ""Queer As Folk"" and ""The L Word"", comedies like ""Will & Grace"", and even reality shows including the popular ""Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"" signify a new commercial acceptance of homosexuality that has never been seen before in the United States. However, the increasing exposure has prompted critics to argue that the gay and lesbian representation on television is oversimplified and is rife with one-dimensional characters. Ultimately, the viewers will decide the future of homosexuality and homosexual and lesbian characters on television. The text offers essays that explore such topics as the politics of representation and the clash of progressive and regressive social agendas in television and the workplace's emphasis on the search for a space for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered within the mainstream media. The book contains criticisms of characters in such shows as ""Six Feet Under"", ""Queer As Folk"", ""Friends"" and ""Ellen"".

In the past two decades, Othello has tried out for the basketball team, Macbeth has taken over a fast food joint, and King Lear has moved to an lowa farm - Shakespeare is everywhere in popular culture. This collection of essays addresses the use of Shakespearean narratives, themes, imagery, and characterizations in non-Shakespearian cinema. The essays explore how Shakespeare and his work are manipulated within the popular media and explore topics such as racism, jealousy, misogyny and nationality. The question of whether a contemporary production is influenced by Shakespeare or by an earlier piece that influenced Shakespeare is also addressed. The submissions concentrate on film and television programs that are adaptations of Shakespearean plays, including My Own Private Idaho, CSI-Miami, A Thousand Acres, Prospero's Books, O, 10 Things I Hate About You, Withnail and I, Get Over It, and The West Wing. Each chapter includes notes and a list of works cited. A full bibliography completes the work; it is divided into bibliographies and filmographies, general studies and essays, derivatives based on a single play, derivatives based on several, and derivatives based on Shakespeare as a character.