Word: gablers
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...Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Neal Gabler argued that celebrity culture had created a universal lust for the camera, and he sees these series as a case in point. "Reality has become the greatest entertainment of all," he says. "It's symptomatic of a larger phenomenon that all of life is entertainment." It's a grand argument, appealing to our now conditioned distrust of the fame machine. But it's an easy one to take too far. In fact, most of us don't want to, in Gabler's words, "get to the other side of the glass...
...just about any sentence from the book, chosen at random, one finds use of an unusual but exactly fitting word. Gabler possesses an unusually large vocabulary. His word choice is always precise and ingenious and leaves the reader wondering why most of these extraordinary words are not more common in writing and speech...
...instance, Gabler claims that the Gulf War was a cinematic production. He cites the musical themes and news coverage titles (NBC's "America at War," ABC and CNN's "Crisis in the Gulf") developed by each network and the reporters who became stars overnight...
Reading the book, one must keep in mind that we are all products of the very culture Gabler describes. Alongside the frightening examples are everyday occurrences that stem from the very same attitudes. It's scary to see a bit of Jeffrey Dahmer or Monica Lewinsky in yourself...
...Gabler does not preach reform. He advocates awareness, and he is good at what he does. Although on one level it might be nice to have a book outline the best course of growth and correction for our society, that is difficult and dangerous. Life the Movie is not rhetoric or propaganda. It is simply a searching and clear-sighted analysis of American culture, and it will change the way you look at your surroundings and yourself...