Stephen Duncombe Interview

Stephen Duncombe discusses his book, Dream: Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy. What practical progressive political lessons can we learn from corporate theme parks, ad campaigns, video games like Grand Theft Auto, celebrity culture, and Las Vegas? Duncombe proposes that such examples of popular fantasy can help us define and make possible a new political future. Although fantasy and spectacle have become the lingua franca of our time, Duncombe points out that liberals continue to depend upon sober reason to guide them. Instead, they need to learn how to communicate in today’s spectacular vernacular—not merely as a tactic but as a new way of thinking about and acting out politics. Learning from Las Vegas, however, does not mean adopting its values, as Duncombe demonstrates in laying out plans for what he calls “ethical spectacle.” Duncombe teaches the history and politics of media and culture at the Gallatin School of New York University. He is the author of Notes from Underground, the editor of the Cultural Resistance Reader, and the co-author of The Bobbed-Haired Bandit. Recorded January 23, 2007