Understanding Popular Culture

"Whether used on its own or in conjunction with Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction, this reader is a theoretical, analytical, and historical introduction to the study of popular culture within cultural studies. The readings cover the culture and civilization tradition, culturalism, structuralism and poststructuralism, Marxism, feminism, and postmodernism, as well as current debates in the study of popular culture."

The above description came with the download. The item is a pop culture and theory reader which my students would use as additional background source for their course work. Since this text is more technical than their course text, they may be able to find some new information on the topic, which they had not thought about. Only parts of this piece are available through Google books, but these are significant chunks.

"Is NYPD Blue a less valid form of artistic expression than a Shakespearean drama? Who is to judge and by what standards?In this new edition of Herbert Gans's brilliantly conceived and clearly argued landmark work, he builds on his critique of the universality of high cultural standards."

This is just one of the key questions our course will address. This Google Book offers more examples of popular and high culture artifacts that some people love to hate. The chunks of text available to us will be nice to have, especially for those students who aren't getting the distinctions between high/low culture or the purpose of our course.

This project for someone's English 7741 class, introduces several literary devices in a playful context. The reviewers liked the piece, so I will include it here to suggest to my students that popular culture often makes use of the same techniques that apply when we study in the classics.

The Film Analysis Web site uses frames, which your browser does not support. To view a scaled-down version of the site, click here. Use the forward and back arrows at the top and bottom of each page to navigate.

Even though, Listly gave me the above warning, I can see the site just fine and like this film guide. It will come in handy when we watch movies in class and need to figure out how to "read" such visual texts.

In this short article, Rudiger introduces some key reading strategies for graphic narratives and points out the importance of reading pictures and words side by side. Since we're reading one graphic novel in class, this reading guide will come in handy.

"NPR's entertainment and pop culture round-table podcast features spirited discussions of movies, books, television, nostalgia, and - every time - what's making us happy this week."

I think this NPR feature can serve as an example of how a fairly news-oriented medium like NPR has branched out to include more pop culture elements. The items included every week are very timely, and I may be able to link them to discussion boards.

"The website provides resources for the critical analysis of popular culture in the US, including the impact of that culture beyond national borders. Resources include sites on various forms of popular culture, including music, film, television, advertising, sports, fashion, toys, magazines and comic books, and the medium in which this message moves, cyberculture."

This is a very comprehensive website where my students will be able to find additional ideas for their own work. I hope that seeing this profusion of varied and international information will get them excited about our class.

Below my list, Listly added additional items that--interestingly--may also work for class discussion.