View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 1, Klosterman says Nora Ephron convinced an entire generation that they should look where for a lover?

2. Which Coldplay song does Klosterman mock continually in Chapter 1?

3. Which song does Klosterman cite as having superior insights on a theme to Born to Run?

4. In Chapter 4, Klosterman notes that Bruce Springsteen is a hero to what?

5. What is the preferred drug of Laker people?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Sim Chuck rejected in love?

2. According to Klosterman, how did The Real World create modern youth culture?

3. Why is Madonna not the sexual icon that Pamela Anderson is?

4. How are Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson similar?

5. What is the difference between the sexuality Monroe represents and the sexuality Anderson represents?

6. What is the essential difference between a Laker philosophy and a Celtic philosophy?

7. How is Billy Joel an exception to the fetishism of coolness?

8. How did Woody Allen change and then fail to change romantic perceptions?

9. What does Klosterman learn about his life from his Sim?

10. How did Nora Ephron ruin a lot of young lives?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

From Klosterman's point-of-view, certain individuals are able to effortlessly embody abstract ideas. Write an essay about his exploration of Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson. How does each woman typify the sexuality of her era? What limitations on the public's understanding of these women does this symbolic quality create? Why is Anderson, in Klosterman's opinion, a more effective sex symbol than Madonna?

Essay Topic 2

Chuck Klosterman's essays fall into the category of literary nonfiction, or new journalism. Most famously practiced by such writers as Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and Truman Capote, this practice involves the journalist placing him or herself at the center of the story. Write an essay about three essays in which Klosterman plays a pivotal role in the reading of events. How is he an active player here? How does his presence affect the story? What does this alter about what else would have been a straightforward relating of events?

Essay Topic 3

In several chapters, Klosterman makes note of a shift that occurred in the film industry with the release of Star Wars. Write an essay about this shift. What types of films were being produced, making money, and winning awards before Star Wars? What new strategy did studios develop to replicate the Star Wars boon? What does Klosterman think about this shift and its effect on films in the 1980s and 1990s?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 983 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample