Barbara F. Tobolowsky & Pauline J. Reynolds 
Anti-Intellectual Representations of American Colleges and Universities 
Fictional Higher Education

This book explores popular media depictions of higher education from an American perspective. Each chapter in this book investigates the portrait of higher education in an exciting array of media including novels, television, film, comic books, and video games revealing the ways anti-intellectualism manifests through time. Examining a wide range of narratives, the authors in this book provide incisive commentary on the role of the university as well as the life of students, faculty, and staff in fictional college campuses.

Table of Content

Chapter 1. Cultivating Anti-Intellectualism in the Fictional University.- Chapter 2. Humor in Academic Fiction: From Subtle Satire to LMAO.- Chapter 3. From Superman to Squirrel Girl: Higher Education in Comic Books, 1938-2015.- Chapter 4. Video Games and Anti-Intellectualism: Higher Education in Modern Video Games.- Chapter 5. The Prism of Hollywood: Depictions of Racial Diversity in Films About College.- Chapter 6. Titillation, Murder, and Romance: Hollywood’s Distortion of Women College Students.- Chapter 7. Developing a Bad Reputation: The Emergence of Student Affairs in College Novels.- Chapter 8. The Symbol of the Book: Faculty and Social Values in American Films, 1930-1950.- Chapter 9. Anti-Intellectualism and the Faculty: Representations of the Primetime Professoriate.- Chapter 10. Concluding Thoughts on Media Representations of Higher Education: Anti-Intellectualism and Other Themes.

About the author

Barbara F. Tobolowsky is Associate Professor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA. She has published on media representations in the
Journal of Marketing for Higher Education (2014) and the
International Journal of Educational Advancement (2006), among others.





Pauline J. Reynolds is Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Graduate Department of Leadership and Counseling at the University of Redlands, USA. Her research focuses on representations of higher education in popular culture and media.