Dr. Angela M. S. Nelson, Department of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403-0226, (419) 372-0284; e-mail: anelson@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Course Description: Popular Culture of the twentieth century, including mass media, is the major cultural environment to which almost all Americans have experienced and can relate. The popular environment both shapes and is shaped by all of us. Consequently, our cultural heritage and our present cultural identity are both intimately related to Popular Culture. This introductory course is designed to facilitate the recognition, understanding, utilization, and appreciation of the basic theories of, approaches to, and topics within Popular Culture. In addition, this course will serve as a beginning point for documenting a personal cultural self-awareness of American Popular Culture. Required Books and Materials: Nachbar, Jack and Kevin Lause, ed. Popular Culture: An Introductory Text. Bowling Green, OH: BGSU Popular Press, 1992. Nelson. POPC 160 (Introduction to Popular Culture) Course Packet, 1994. Course Exams and Materials Overview: Two Exams (45%) Exams will include material from lectures, textbook readings, and audiovisual presentations. Both exams to a minimal extent will be cumulative. Short Assignments (35%) Short assignments will include such items as video reports, in-class group exercises (from the Course Packet), and study questions. Only handwritten assignments written on looseleaf paper or on spiral notebook paper with the edges cut off will be accepted. Since some of the short assignments are located in the Course Packets, at times they will be collected for grading. Paper (20%) One paper focusing on the application of the "tools" of Popular Culture studies will be submitted by each student. Paper Topic: Describe ONE important (a) myth, belief, or value, (b) icon, (c) celebrity, (d) stereotype, and (e) ritual that existed in American culture in 1954. Procedure: a. Choose a SINGLE ISSUE from one of the following magazines or newspapers published in the year 1954: (1) The Ladies Home Journal (2) Life (3) The Saturday Evening Post (4) Ebony (5) Toledo Bronze Raven (August-December only) b. Study the entire newspaper or magazine in minute detail. Read the articles, editorials, ads, letters to the editor, short stories, photo features and, comic strips. In other words, read carefully EVERYTHING in the periodical. c. Consult and incorporate the following pages of the textbook in order to substantiate your arguments concerning each of the "tools" listed above: myths, beliefs, values (pp. 22-23, 82-109); icons (pp. 23-27, 172-174, 178-182); celebrities (pp. 23-27, 326-327); stereotypes (pp. 23-27, 236-237); and rituals (pp. 27-28, 376-382, 385-386). Class Agenda and Reading Assignment Schedule: January 11 Brief introduction to course: What is Popular Culture? January 13 Getting To Know Us 1-20 January 18 20-35 January 20 Section 2 Myths, Beliefs, Values 82-109 January 25 110-120 January 27 121-133 February 1 134-148 February 3 149-166 February 8 Section 3 Icons 169-185 February 10 186-210 February 15 211-234 February 17 Review February 22 Exam #1 (1-234; 40 points) February 24 NO CLASS March 1 Section 4 Stereotypes 236-261 March 3 262-291 March 8 View: Ethnic Notions March 10 292-311 March 15 Section 5 Heroes/Celebrities 312, 314-343 March 17 345-365 March 21-25 NO CLASS Spring Recess March 29 366-373 March 31 Paper proposal due Section 6 Rituals 376-402 April 5 403-411 April 7 Section 7 Formulas/Popular Arts 414-429 Section 1 Taking Popular Culture Seriously 38-54 April 12 430-444 Origins and Development of Rap Music (Course Packet) April 14 445-462 April 19 463-488 April 21 Paper due Situation Comedy (Course Packet) April 26 Section 8 490-504 April 28 Review May 2-6 Exam #2 (235-504; 60 points) Final Examinations Week