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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Sylvester Graham argued that insanity is linked to what?

2. How did Klosterman personally feel about the Pop Music Studies conference?

3. What is Klosterman's personal analogy for time?

4. What point does Valentine make about life in Owl?

5. What era does Klosterman assault the country for romanticizing in Chapter 14?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe to conflict between alternative and mainstream country music.

2. What is the essence of coolness, as described in Chapter 10?

3. Why does Klosterman posit that traveling forward in time is less fraught than traveling back?

4. How does a Dixie Chicks concert reveal a cultural shift to Chuck Klosterman?

5. How was the Tori Paradox the most realistic part of Saved by the Bell?

6. How are the musicians at the Pop Music Studies conference antithetical in their remarks to the spirit of the event?

7. How has the portrayal of reality in films changed between the golden age of the 1970s and today, according to Klosterman?

8. What essential beliefs does Generation X have, according to Chuck Klosterman?

9. What example does Klosterman offer in Eating the Dinosaur to illustrate the loss of origins in time travel?

10. Why is serial killing a modern crime?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In one of the essays of Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Klosterman uses certain pup cultural conflicts to illustrate race conflict in America. In an essay, discuss Klosterman's notions about race in this country. What did The Real World illustrate about this conflict? What about the Laker/Celtic rivalry of the 1980s and 1990s? Does Klosterman seem to think race is a serious problem in this country? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Much of Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs is dedicated to the defense of seemingly low art. Klosterman repeatedly makes the argument that these less-than revered cultural products contain kernels of profound truth. Write an essay about three of these products:

Part 1) Discuss Chuck Klosterman's interaction with the Guns-N-Roses tribute band Paradise City. What is the nature of the band members' affection for GNR? How is Klosterman surprised by this dedication? What essential cultural desire does Paradise City reveal to the author?

Part 2) How does Klosterman describe the narrative value of the popular sitcom Saved by the Bell? What level of verisimilitude does it contain? Discuss the narrative hole in the show's last season and how Klosterman thinks that hole is the truest component of the show.

Part 3) What is the cultural significance of the novel and film series Left Behind? To what component of modern American society does this series most fervently speak? How does Chuck Klosterman use the series to illuminate a powerful force in America?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the unifying worldview that runs throughout all of the essays in Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. What does Klosterman think about popular culture in modern America? What is its connection to the overall cultural zeitgeist? What does it reveal about humanities wants and fears? Does Klosterman give any inkling as to his political leanings? What does he refuse to admit about himself and his personal values?

(see the answer keys)

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