Study Programme English Department (Undergraduate) Course Introduction to American Popular Culture Status of the Course elective Year II Semester III ECTS Credits 4 Teacher Marko Lukić, PhD, Associate Professor e-mail mlukic@unizd.hr consultation hours By appointment Associate / Assistant Zlatko Bukač, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate e-mail zbukac@unizd.hr Consultation hours By appointment Place of Teaching 157 Mode of Teaching Lectures, seminars Teaching Workload Lectures + Seminars + 1 + 1 Exercises Seminar presentations, attendance and participation in class discussions, mid-term exams, oral exam Attendance and participation in class discussions (10%) Assessment Criteria & Mode of Examination 60% - attendance, participation in class discussions, reading assigned literature, midterm exams, presenting tasks during seminars 40% - final exam (oral exam) Start date 15.10. 2018. End date 25.01.2019. Mid-Term, End-of-Term Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4 Examinations 10.12. 2018. TBA TBA TBA Final Examinations Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4 TBA TBA TBA TBA The ability to analyse and interpret visual texts of different media The ability to use basic theories and concept of cultural theory and literary theory Learning Outcomes The ability to critically approach and analyse different aspects of popular culture the ability to compare and use relevant theoretical approaches to the different popular culture phenomenon The ability to share, co-operate and discuss ideas with peers Enrolment Requirements Course Contents Students should be enrolled in the 3 rd semester This course is interdisciplinary and students will have opportunity to
work on areas of their own choosing (American or British Studies) Required Reading Additional Reading Internet Sources Raymond Williams «On High and Popular Culture» http://www.newrepublic.com/book/review/high-and-popularculture John Storey - Cultural Theory and Popular Culture A reader John Tomlinson «The Discourse of Cultural Imperialism» p.1-11 (Cultural Imperialism) Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema (http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~mquillig/20050131mulvey.pdf) Stuart Hall, On Postmodernism and Articulation p.131-151 (Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen ur.) Stuart Hall Encoding, Decoding p.90-103 (The Cultural Studies Reader, Simon During ur.) http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/sh-encoding- Decoding.pdf Pustz, Matthew. Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. Continuum International Publishing. 2012. Leavy P. & Adrienne T.B. Gender and Popular Culture. Sense Publishers. 2014. Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art - Setting the Record Straight p. 2-24, The Vocabulary of Comics p. 24-59 Morrison, Grant. Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero. Vintage. 2011. Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons Watchmen Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns John Carpenter Halloween (1978) The Walking Dead (izbor) George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead (1978) Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin. 1972, pp.7-34. Hall, Stuart. Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 1997. Said, Edward. Orientalism. Mills, Sarah. Discourse. Crothers, Lane. Globalization & American Popular Culture. Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, Inc. 2013. Wolfreys, Julian. Critical Keyword in literary and Cultural Theory. Palgrave MacMillan. 2004. Guins, Raiford & Omarya Cruz. Popular Culture: A Reader. Sage Publications. 2015. Jim Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley- Blackwell. 2013. Raymond Williams «On High and Popular Culture» http://www.newrepublic.com/book/review/high-and-popular-culture Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~mquillig/20050131mulvey.pdf
Stuart Hall Encoding, Decoding p.90-103 (The Cultural Studies Reader, Simon During ur.) http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/sh-encoding- Decoding.pdf Course Evaluation Procedures Conditions for Obtaining Signatures Mark Grading Scale Final Grade Calculation Comments Course Evaluation is used to improve the quality of teaching and learning. The feedback from evaluation will help guide changes in future. Students should come every week ready to discuss the readings. Class attendance will be taken for each class session. Students are expected to attend all classes, and therefore only THREE (3) absences are allowed. You do not need to offer any documentation for missing a class. 1 ECTS attendance in lectures and seminars 1 ECTS preparation for lectures and seminars 2 ECTS preparation for final exam (midterm exam + oral exam) 60% Midterm exams, attendance, submission of summaries 40% Oral exam For those students who wish to read in greater depth about topics covered in this course, several books are available for you in University library. Topics - Lectures No. Date Topic Literature 1. 8.10. 2018. Independence Day 2018 in Croatia 2. 15.10. 2018. Introduction 3. 22.10.2018. 4. 29.10.2018. What is popular culture? Introduction to Popular Culture Marxism and Frankfurt School Raymond Williams «On High and Popular Culture» Williams, R. ''The Analysis of Culture'' in: Storey, J. - Cultural Theory and Popular Culture A reader (32-41) Arnold, M, 1869, Culture and Anarchy (selected readings) 5. Hegemony Gramsci, A. ''Hegemony,
5.11.2018. Intellectuals and the State'' in: Storey, J. - Cultural Theory and Popular Culture A reader (75-81) 6. 12.11.2018. Americanization and Cultural Imperialism John Tomlinson «The Discourse of Cultural Imperialism» p.1-11 (Cultural Imperialism) 7. 19.11.2018. Foucault, Discourse and Power Foucault, M. ''Method'' in: Storey, J. - Cultural Theory and Popular Culture A reader (313-320) Sarah Mills Discourse (izbor) 8. 26.11.2018. Gender and Sexuality, Feminism, Queer theory Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema (http://terpconnect.um d.edu/~mquillig/20050 131mulvey.pdf) 9. 3.12.2018. Race, Racism and Orientalism Edward Said, Orientalism (selected readings) 10. 10.12.2018. 11. 17.12.2018. 12. Psychoanalysis and Popular Culture; Freud Lacan Contemporary Popular Culture and Postmodernism Lacan, J. ''The Mirror Stage'' in: Storey, J. - Cultural Theory and Popular Culture A reader (255-261) Stuart Hall, On Postmodernism and Articulation p.131-151 (Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen ur.), Stuart Hall Encoding, Decoding p.90-103 (The Cultural Studies Reader, Simon During ur.) http://faculty.georgeto wn.edu/irvinem/theory/ SH-Encoding- Decoding.pdf Scott McCloud, Setting the Record Straight p.
7.1.2019. Language of Comic-Books 2-24, The Vocabulary of Comics p. 24-59 (Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art) 13. 14.1.2019. Case study Myth, Hero, Superhero and Surveillance Grant Morrison The SunGod and the Dark Knight p.3-26 (Supergods), Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons Watchmen, Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns 14. 21.1.2019. Case Study - Reading of Space Case Study - Dead Consumerism John Carpenter Halloween (1978) Seminars No. Date Topic Literature 1. 16.10.2018. Introduction to the course, informing students about their obligations and course demands Mass Culture and Popular Culture in: Strinati, Dominic. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. Routledge. 2004. (5-43) 2. 23.10.2018. Mass and Popular culture, the Development of Popular Culture ''Popular Culture as the 'Other' of High Culture'' in: Storey, J. Inventing Popular Culture. Blackwell Publishing. 2008. (16-24) Shiach, M. The Popular in: Guins, Raiford & Omarya Cruz. Popular Culture: A Reader. Sage Publications. 2015. (55-64) Williams, Raymond. On High and Popular Culture https://newrepublic.co m/article/79269/highand-popular-culture
3. 30.10. 2018. American Popular Culture and Globalization American Popular Culture and Globalization in: Crothers, Lane. Globalization & American Popular Culture. Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, Inc. 2013. (1-32) American Popular Culture in Movies, Music and Television in: Crothers, Lane. Globalization & American Popular Culture. Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, Inc. 2013. (37-82) Introduction: identity as a question in: Lawler, Steph. Identity: Sociological perspectives. Polity Press. 2008. (1-10) 4. 6.11. 2018. Identity theories Stories, memories, identities in: Lawler, Steph. Identity: Sociological perspectives. Polity Press. 2008. (10-31) Lee, Peter. Grasping for Identity: The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu In: Pustz, Matthew. Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. Continuum International Publishing. 2012. (120-136) 5. Popular culture in American History New News in: Jim Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley-Blackwell. 2013. (1-35) The Racey Appeal of Minstrel Shows in: Jim
13.11.2018. Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley-Blackwell. 2013. (67-88) Western Values in: Jim Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley- Blackwell. 2013. (91-113) 6. 20.11.2018. Cultural imperialism and the American Dream The Discourses of Cultural Imperialism in: Tomlinson, John. Cultural Imperialism. Continuum. 1991. (1-34) A Fit for a Fractured Society: Baseball and the American Promise in: Elias, Robert. Baseball and the American Dream. M. E. Sharpe. 2010. (3-37) Introduction in: Mills, Sara. Discourse. A New Critical Idiom. Routledge. 2004. (1-25) 7. 27.11.2018. Ideology, Discourse and Hegemony Gramsci, Antonio. ''Hegemony, Intellectuals and the State'' in: Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. Reader. 4 th Edition. Pearson Longman. 2009. (75-81) Althusser, Louis. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. in: Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. Reader. 4th Edition. Pearson Longman. 2009. (302-313)
Discourse and Ideology Mills, Sara. Discourse. A New Critical Idiom. Routledge. 2004. (26-38) 8. 4.12.2018. Popular Culture in American History Moving Images in: Jim Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley- Blackwell. 2013. (115-138) Waves if Selling in: Jim Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley- Blackwell. 2013. (139-181) Stardom in: Jim Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley-Blackwell. 2013. (183-215) Seeing Television in: Jim Cullen. Popular culture in American History. Wiley- Blackwell. 2013. (217-239) Leavy Patricia and Adrienne Trier-Bieniek. Introduction to Gender and Popular Culture in: Leavy P. & Adrienne T.B. Gender and Popular Culture. Sense Publishers. 2014. (1-27) 9. 11.12.2018. Gender and Popular Culture Roper A. Emily and Katherine M. Polasek. Gender, Sport and Popular Culture in: Leavy P. & Adrienne T.B. Gender and Popular Culture. Sense Publishers. 2014. (151-175)
10. 18.12.2018. Male Gaze, Movies and Advertising Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema (http://terpconnect.um d.edu/~mquillig/20050 131mulvey.pdf) Arend, Patricia. Gender and Advertising in: Leavy P. & Adrienne T.B. Gender and Popular Culture. Sense Publishers. 2014. (53-81) 11. 8.01.2019. Race, Racism and Orientalism Wolfreys, Julian. Race in: Wolfreys, Julian. Critical Keyword in literary and Cultural Theory. Palgrave MacMillan. 2004. (204-212) Said, Edward. Orientalism (1-57) 12. 15.01.2019. Holiday 13. 22.01.2019 History of (Superhero) Comic Books Setting the Record Straight, The Vocabulary of Comics p. 24-59 in: Scott McCloud. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. (2-24) (24-59) Morrison, Grant. The Golden Age in Morrison, Grant. Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero. Vintage. 2011. (1-47) Lewis, A.David. The Militarism of American Superheroes after 9/11 in: Pustz, Matthew. Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. Continuum International Publishing. 2012. (223-237)
14. TBD Superhero Comic Books and identity Bolling, Ben. The U.S.: HIV/AIDS Crisis and the Negotiation of queer Identity in Superhero Comics, or, is Northstar Still a Fairy? in: Pustz, Matthew. Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. Continuum International Publishing. 2012. (202-221) Agent of Change: The Evolution and Enculturation of Nick Fury (184-202) in: Pustz, Matthew. Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. Continuum International Publishing. 2012. (184-202) 15. TBD Fragments of American Popular Culture (presentation of several seminal TV shows and movies) Nation and popular culture Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Deanna D. Sellnow ''What is popular culture and why study it?'' (1-27) in: The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture. Sage. 2009.