Cinema and Television in Singapore ─ Resistance in One Dimension

Tan (social and political sciences, U. of Cambridge) offers a study of the political significance, possibilities, and limitations of art and popular culture in today's Singapore. The author notes that Singapore's creative talent is likely to use media to criticize the status quo and not to promote the ideas of the dominant classes. He also states that authoritarian capitalism is quite capable of transforming opposing, resistant and alternative expressions into profitable system-supporting commodities. The book is an interesting, very thought-provoking exercise in interpreting the unusual city-state that is Singapore through the eyes of its creative inhabitants. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kenneth Paul Tan, Ph.D. (2000) in Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, is Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He is the editor ofRenaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture, and Politics (NUS Press, 2007).