POPULAR CULTURE IN AMERICA
This course examines popular culture and the emergence of mass culture in the United States over the last 150 years or so. It starts from the premise that popular culture, far from being a frivolous or debased alternative to high culture, is in fact an important site of popular expression, social instruction, and cultural conflict, and thus deserves critical attention. We examine theoretical texts that help us to “read” popular culture, even as we study specific forms and artifacts of popular culture: from television shows to Hollywood movies, the pornography industry to advertisements, and popular music to theme parks. Throughout the course, we ground what we call “culture” in political, economic, and social contexts. We pay special attention to questions of desire (what critics call structures of feeling), and to the ways popular culture mediates and produces pleasure, disgust, satisfaction, and fear.
Format: This is a colloquium. For classes we will gather to discuss assigned texts and/or audiovisual materials together; when the occasion demands I will also do some lecturing. You are expected to complete readings on time and to participate in discussions. Out of respect for each other please make every effort not to arrive late for classes. Evaluations: You will be evaluated on the basis of two papers (25% each), a final take-home examination (35%), and class participation (15%). The first paper (5 pages) will be due in class on Friday, Oct. 10. The second paper (same length) will be due in class on Tuesday, Nov. 25. You will be graded down for missing classes. Be aware of strict enforcement of plagiarism rules (if you don't know what these are, find out).
Readings : The following materials are available for purchase at Smith's Grecourt Bookstore.
Nelson George, Hip Hop America Henry A. Giroux, The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence William Irwin, Mark. T. Conrad, and Aeon J. Skoble, eds., The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh of Homer Laura Kipnis, Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America W. T. Lhamon, Jr., Raising Cain: Blackface Performance from Jim Crow to Hip Hop Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920- 1940 Lynn Spigel, Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America
Readings not available for purchase are marked with a (*) below; they are collected in the course packet which is available at Copycat Print Shop at 32 Pleasant Street (586-1332).Schedule of Classes and Assignments
Th., Sept. 4 Introduction: How and Why to Read Popular Culture
Handout : “Popular Culture” from Key Concepts in Cultural Theory (1999)
Tu., Sept. 9 The Black Face of American Popular Culture (I) Reading :W. T. Lhamon, Jr., Raising Cain (1998), 1-55
Documentary: “Ethnic Notions” (dir. Marlon Riggs, 1986): excerpt on minstrelsy, 5:35-11:55
Th., Sept. 11 The Black Face of American Popular Culture (II) Reading :W. T. Lhamon, Jr., Raising Cain , 56-115
Movie: Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927): excerpt, 1:09-1:16
Tu., Sept. 16 The Black Face of American Popular Culture (III) Reading :W. T. Lhamon, Jr., Raising Cain , 130-157, 180-191, 215-226
Video: Michael Jackson, “Bad” from History: Video Greatest Hits
Th., Sept. 18 Burlesquing Victorians: Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of PleasureReading : *Robert Allen, Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture (1991), 1-42, 121-156
Movie: Mae West in “Belle of the Nineties” (1934): excerpt
Tu., Sept. 23 Movies and the Making of “Mass” Culture Readings : *Daniel J. Czitrom, “American Motion Pictures and the New Popular Culture, 1893-1918,” (1982) from Jim Cullen, Popular Culture in American History, 129-152*“The Nickelodeon” (1907), “The Nickel Madness” (1907), “The Nickelodeon” (1908), “The Drama of the People” (1910), and “The Moving Picture and the National Character” (1910), from Gerald Mast, ed. The Movies in Our Midst: Documents in the Cultural History of Film in America (1982), 43-61
Movie: “The Great Train Robbery” (dir. Edwin Porter, 1903)
Th., Sept. 25 Imagining America at the MoviesReadings : *Lary May, “Apocalyptic Cinema: D. W. Griffith and the Aesthetics of Reform,” from John Belton, ed., Movies and Mass Culture (1996), 25-58 *National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, “Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest Against ‘The Birth of a Nation,'” (1915) & D. W. Griffith , “The Rise and Fall of Free Speech,” (1916) from Gerald Mast, ed. The Movies in Our Midst, 123-135 *bell hooks, “the oppositional gaze: black female spectators,” from reel to real: race, sex, and class at the movies (1996), 197-213
Movie: “Birth of a Nation” (dir. D. W. Griffith , 1915): excerpts
Tu., Sept. 30 Romancing the Folk: Modernism and the Lure of “the Primitive” Reading : *LeRoi Jones, Blues People: Negro Music in White America (1963), 17-31, 60-94, 142-165 *Ralph Ellison, “Blues People,” Shadow and Act (1964), 247-58
Documentary: “In Search of Lightnin' Hopkins ” (dir. Les Blank, 1968): excerpt
Th., Oct. 2 Blues Women: The Art of Suffering Readings : *Hazel Carby, “It Jus Be's Dat Way Sometime: The Sexual Politics of Women's Blues,” in Robyn R. Warhol and Diane Price Herndl, eds., Feminisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism (1986), 746-58
Documentary: “ Wild Women Don't Have the Blues” (dir. Christine Dall, 1989): 7:10-16:00
Tu., Oct. 7 The Business of Advertising Reading : Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream (1985), xv-116
Th., Oct. 9 The Art of Business: Selling Consumer Culture Reading : Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream, 117-163, 335-363
Fri., Oct. 10 First paper due in my office or box by 5PM
Tu., Oct. 14 NO CLASS (Autumn Recess)
Th., Oct. 16 Television and Cultural Conformity in the 1950s Reading : Lynn Spigel, Make Room for TV (1992), 1-10, 36-135
Documentary: “David Halberstam's The Fifties,” excerpt
Tu., Oct. 21 TV Times: Latin Lovers and Rebellious BroadsReadings : Lynn Spigel, Make Room for TV, 136-187 *Patricia Mellencamp, “Lucy,” High Anxiety: Catastrophe, Scandal, Age, and Comedy (1992), 322-333 *Gustavo Pérez Firmat, ”I-Love Ricky,” Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban American Way (1994), 23-45
TV Show: “I Love Lucy,” episode 1, October 15, 1951
Th., Oct. 23 From Mass Culture to Mouse Culture: The Disneyfication of America Reading : Henry A. Giroux, The Mouse That Roared (1999), 1-82 *Jane Kuenz, “Working at the Rat,” from Project on Disney, Inside the Mouse (1995) , 110-162
Tu., Oct. 28 The Wonderful World of DisneyReading : Henry A. Giroux, The Mouse That Roared, 83-170
Documentary: “Mickey Mouse Monopoly” (MEF, 2001)
Th., Oct. 30 NO CLASS (Otelia Cromwell Day)
Tu., Nov. 4 Rock and Roll Integrates America Reading : George Lipsitz, “Against the Wind: Dialogic Aspects of Rock and Roll,” from Time Passages: Collective memory and American Popular Culture (1990), 99-132
Documentary: “History of Rock and Roll,” vol. 2: excerpt, 0:00-16:00
Th., Nov. 6 Theoretical Interlude: Intellectuals Against Popular Culture Readings : *Theodor Adorno, “On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening,” (1938) in The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture (2001), 29-60 *Alan Bloom, “Music,” The Closing of the American Mind (1987) , 68-81 Documentary excerpt: “History of Rock and Roll,” vol. 2 section on youth culture and dancing
Tu., Nov. 11 Pornography: The Most Popular Culture of All Readings : Laura Kipnis, “Preface,” “Fantasy in America : The United States v. Daniel Thomas DePew , “Life in the Fat Lane ,” from Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America (1996), vi-xiii, 3-63, 93-121
Th., Nov. 13 Pornography: Critiquing Disgust and Desire Reading : Laura Kipnis, “Disgust and Desire: Hustler Magazine,” “How to Look at Pornography,” Bound and Gagged, 122-206
Documentary: “Not A Love Story” (1981): excerpt Tu., Nov. 18 The Comedy of American Life (1): Why The Simpsons Makes Us Laugh Reading : William Irwin, Mark. T. Conrad, and Aeon J. Skoble, eds., The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh of Homer (2001): “Introduction,” 1-3; William Irwin and J. R. Lombardo, “ The Simpsons and Allusion: ‘Worst Essay Ever,'” 81-92; Carl Matheson, “ The Simpsons, Hyper-Irony, and the Meaning of Life,” 108-125
TV Show: “The Simpsons” TBA
Th., Nov. 20 The Comedy of American Life (2): Why The Simpsons Makes Us Think Reading : Irwin, ed., The Simpsons and Philosophy: Mark T. Conrad, “Thus Spake Bart: On Nietzsche and the Virtues of Being Bad,” 59-77; Dale E. Snow and James J. Snow, “Simpsonian Sexual Politics,” 126-144; James M. Wallace, “A (Karl, not Groucho), Marxist in Springfield ,” 235-251
Tu., Nov. 25 NO CLASS: Second paper due
Th., Nov. 27 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
Tu., Dec. 2 The Politics and Poetics of Rap (1) *Marshall Berman, “Close to the Edge: Reflections on Rap,” Tikkun, 8, 2 (March-April 1993), 13-23 Nelson George, Hip Hop America (1998), 1-113
Th., Dec. 4 The Politics and Poetics of Rap (2) Reading : *bell hooks, “gangsta culture” from Outlaw Culture (1994), 115-123, Nelson George, Hip Hop America , 114-212
Video: “Cultural Criticism and Transformation” (MEF, 1997), three sections beginning at 49:00
Tu., Dec. 9 Getting Hip to Indo-chic: Ethnicity, Consumerism, and Youth Culture Reading : *Sunaina Maira, “Henna and Hip Hop: The Politics of Cultural Production and the Work of Cultural Studies,” Journal of Asian American Studies 3, 3 (2000), 329-369
Movies: Nisha Ganatra's “Chutney Popcorn” (1999) and Piyush Dinker Pandya's “American Desi” (2001): both excerpted Th., Dec. 11 Traveling Cultures: Postmodernism and the Debris of GlobalizationReading : *Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “Planet Rap: Notes on the Globalization of Culture,” from Marjorie Garber et. al. eds., Field Work: Sites in Literary and Cultural Criticism (1996), 55-66
Examination Period Ends: Fri., Dec. 19
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