Coming of Age in the Global Village

Abstract

I wish to analyze in this paper three acts of violence directed against public figures: Arthur Bremer's attempt to assassinate George Wallace in 1972; John Hinckley, Jr.'s attempt to assassinate President Reagan in 1982; and Mark David Chapman's unfortunately successful attempt to kill John Lennon in 1981. Each of these three acts was inextricably bound up with popular culture, and the sensibilities of the psychotic young men who committed them were formed by popular culture.