"American popular culture is everywhere in New Zealand. It is there when we turn on the television, when we listen to the radio, when we go to the movies. It is there when we turn the street and find the hamburger chain, the video parlour, the kid in the Michael Jackson t-shirt sipping from a Pepsi. Its influence on our social life is and leisure time seems all-pervasive. But how exactly does the mechanism of a popular culture operate and is this imported Americana necessarily a damaging presence? In the first study of its kind Geoff Lealand traces the various routes of American influence. Focusing on the currently contentious issues of film distribution, television schedules and radio programming, Lealand assembles some fascinating evidence and develops an argument which is provocative and entertaining." -- Back cover.