Reading Questions for Neal Gabler’s Life: The Movie, How Entertainment Conquered Reality. These questions may function as starting points for reflection and discussion on the book.

According to the introduction, what is the place and significance of entertainment in the North American mind and culture?

According to chaps 1 and 2, how and why did entertainment come to have dominion within North American society? What are the merits and problems with Gabler’s arguments? Why?

How has entertainment affected the way people function within the prevailing culture?

According to chaps 3-5, what were the reasons for and effects of the rise of entertainment within North American society? What, according to Gabler, is the significance for the human self of American entertainment? What are the merits and problems with Gabler’s arguments? Why?

Gabler wrote this book just prior to Survivor, Big Brother, American Idol and the rise of “reality television.” Consider how his thoughts on reality TV fit with his argument in Life the Movie.

Gabler offers analysis but no solution. How can and should an evangelical Protestant live within the prevailing entertainment-dominated culture of North America?

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