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CMNS 358: Popular Culture and the Media (Rev. C2) Report a Broken Link

CMNS 358: Popular Culture and the Media focuses on contemporary popular culture. It examines movies, television shows, songs, and fiction, and various critical approaches to these cultural artifacts. The course situates the contemporary study of popular culture within the framework of classical rhetoric and also within recent notions of mass society and mass communication.

Unit 1

Required Readings
Strinati, Dominic. “The Frankfurt School and the Culture Industry.” In An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2004.
Williams, Raymond. 1980. “Advertising: The Magic System.” In Problems in Materialism and Culture, 170–195. London: Verso, 1980.

Unit 2

Required Readings
Terranova, Tiziana. “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy.”  Social Text 18, no. 2 (2000): 33–58.

Unit 3

Required Readings
Leeming, David Adams. “Introduction: The Meaning of Myth.” In Mythology: The Voyage of the Hero. 3rd ed. New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.

Mickey, Thomas J. “A Postmodern View of Public Relations: Sign and Reality.”  Public Relations Review 23, no. 3: 271-284.

Unit 4

Required Readings
Scherzinger, Martin Rudolph. “Music, Corporate Power, and Unending War.” Cultural Critique 60 (2005): 23–67.

Unit 5: Required Readings

Mahon, Maureen. “Listening for Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll.” Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture 15 (2011): 1–17.

Elvis Presley. "Hound Dog" Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2008.
Elvis Presley. "Love Me Tender" Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2011.
Little Richard. “Long Tall Sally” Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2008.
Led Zeppelin. "Rock and Roll“ Posted on YouTube.
Chuck Berry. “Maybelline.” Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2007.
Beatles. "Roll Over Beethoven" Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2010.
Beatles. "Eleanor Rigby" Posted on last.fm
Jimi Hendrix. "Purple Haze" Posted on last.fm
The Doors. "The End" Posted on YouTube
Janis Joplin. "Piece of My Heart." Live in Germany, 1968. Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2009.
Don McLean. "American Pie" Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2008.
Kraftwerk. "Autobahn". Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2009.
The Clash. "London Calling". Live in Tokyo, 1982. Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2011.
Peter Gabriel. "Sledgehammer." Posted on YouTube.
Vanilla Ice. "Ice Baby" Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2009.
Madonna. "Papa Don't Preach" Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2011.
Salt-n-Pepa. "Shoop." Live at NBA All Star Weekend, 1994. The above link leads to Salt-N-Pepa - Shoop (Official Video). Klassic ThrowbackTV. YouTube
Lady Gaga. "Bad Romance" official version. VarietyOfMusic. YouTube. Uploaded 2009.
PSY. "Gangnam Style." Original HD 720p. Posted on YouTube.
U2. "Where the Streets Have No Name" Posted on YouTube. Uploaded 2009.
The Kinks. "Waterloo Sunset"  Posted on YouTube.

Unit 6

Required Readings
Franklin, H. Bruce. “Star Trek in the Vietnam Era.”  Science Fiction Studies 21, no. 1 (1994): 24–34.
Charles, Alec. “The Crack of Doom: The Uncanny Echoes of Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who.”  Science Fiction Film and Television 4, no. 1 (2011): 1–23.

Charlie Chaplin. "Modern Times" 1936.

Posted on Dailymotion.

Unit 7

Required Readings
Kustritz, Anne. “Slashing the Romance Narrative.” Journal of American Culture 26, no. 3 (2003): 371–384.

Romero, George A. Night of the Living Dead (film). Image Ten Production, 1968.

Unit 8

Required Readings
Smith, Greg A. “Surveying the World of Contemporary Comics Scholarship: A Conversation.”  Cinema Journal 50, no. 3 (2011): 135–147.

Kidder, Orion Ussner . “Show and Tell: Notes Towards a Theory of Metacomics.” International Journal of Comic Art 10, no. 1 (2008): 248–267.

Unit 9

Required Readings
Bourdon, Jérôme. “Self-Despotism: Reality Television and the New Subject of Politics.” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 49, no. 1 (2008): 66–82.

Unit 10

Required Readings
Scala, Elizabeth. “Pretty Women: The Romance of the Fair Unknown, Feminism, and Contemporary Romantic Comedy.”  Film and History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 29, no. 1–2 (1999): 34–45.

Friday, Krister. “‘A Generation of Men Without History’: Fight Club, Masculinity, and the Historical Symptom.”  Postmodern Culture 13, no. 3 (2003).

Unit 11

Required Readings
Locke, Brian. “White and ‘Black’ versus Yellow: Metaphor and Blade Runner’s Racial Politics.”  Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory 65, no. 4 (2009): 113–138.

Le Guin, Ursula K. “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (Variations on a Theme by William James)." In The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. Harper and Row, 1975.  
Williams, G. Christopher. “Birthing an Undead Family: Reification of the Mother’s Role in the Gothic Landscape of ‘28 Days Later’.”  Gothic Studies 9, no. 2 (2007): 33–44.

Unit 12

Supplementary Readings
Conard, Mark T. “Symbolism, Meaning, and Nihilims in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.” In Part 2 of The Philosophy of Film Noir, edited by Mark T. Conard. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006.

Smith, Kay H. “‘Hamlet, Part Eight, The Revenge’ or, Sampling Shakespeare in a Postmodern World.”  College Literature 31, no. 4 (2004): 135–149.

Unit 13

Required Readings
Russo, Julie Levin. “User-Penetrated Content: Fan Video in the Age of Convergence.” Cinema Journal 48, no. 4 (2009): 125–130.

Howard, Philip N., and Muzammil M. Hussain. “The Role of Digital Media.” Journal of Democracy 22, no. 3 (2011): 35–48.