Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

The course main aim is to study, discuss and understand popular media through the perspective of cultural studies. Cultural studies have long been interested in the relationship between culture and power. From this point of view, popular culture is viewed as a site where social tensions and debates are represented and condensed.

The course examines and discusses several examples of popular media (such as soap operas, pop music, celebrities, reality television, fashion) to better understand their role in legitimating, reinforcing, but also challenging, social order and inequality. The course also studies how audiences interpret and engage with media texts.

Cultural studies use a broad range of qualitative methods to study the values conveyed by media texts, how audiences respond to them and how these texts and practices relate to social and ideological debates. The course will also question the ideological implications of research methods and the relationship between knowledge and power. Concepts such as representation, power, inequality, gender and class will be central in this course

Learning outcomes

Critically evaluate the role of media and popular culture in the production and reproduction of inequality and identify the ways in which popular culture might provide resources for challenging social order.

Understand how audiences engage with popular culture through affirmative and transformative practices.

Critically reflect on the ideological implications of research methods and the relationship between knowledge and power.

Discuss the relationship between cultural and social hierarchies and understanding their role in supporting inequality.

Engage in the current debates about cultural studies, popular media, ideology, and inequality.

Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Contents

1. Introduction: Cultural studies, popular culture, and ideology

From mass culture to popular culture: What are cultural studies? What is popular culture? Raymond Williams and the concept of culture; the ideology of mass culture. Theoretical and methodological framework: Semiotics (Roland Barthes); Marxism (Althusser, Gramsci); reception studies (Stuart Hall: Encoding/Decoding; Poaching and appropriation; Charlotte Brunsdon and David Morley: The Nationwide Project; Ien Ang); Dick Hebdige and subculture; Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of taste. The debate about “quality and inequality”

2. Celebrity and power

What is celebrity and why study it? The celebritzation of society (Oliver Driessens). Celebrity culture, capitalist values and the legitimation of inequality (Richard Dyer, Jo Littler). Celebrity, identity, and ‘social types’ (Richard Dyer, David P. Marshall). Reality TV and the ‘democratization’ of celebrity (Su Holmes). Microcelebrities and influencers (Alice E. Marwik, Ann Jerslev).

Seminar 1. Celebrity culture and working class stereotypes

Reading:

Tyler, Imogen, Bennett, Bruce. 2010. “Celebrity chav”. Fame, femininity and social class. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(3), 375–393.

3. Reality TV and neoliberal governmentality

Reality television and the remaking of the public sphere (Sonia Livingston and Peter Lunt). First person media, confession, and surveillance (Mark Andrejevic, Nick Couldry, Jon Dovey). Neoliberal governmentality and makeover shows (Michel Foucault, Nikolas Rose). Reality TV and the ethics of play (Miguel Sicart, Annette Hill).

Seminar 2. Contemporary labour imaginaries

Reading:

Ouellette, Laurie. 2013. "America's Next Top Model: Neoliberal Labor." A: Thompson, E.; Mittell, J. How to watch television (pp. 168-176). New York: New York University Press

Duffy, Brooke Erin, & Wissinger, Elisabeth. 2017. Mythologies of creative work in the social media age: Fun, free, and “just being me.” International Journal of Communication, 11, 4652–4671

4. Gender and popular media

Cultural studies and feminism. Soap operas and romantic novels: Ien Ang, Charlotte Brunsdon, Tania Modleski, Janice Radway, Joke Hermes. Postfeminism and television series: from Sex and the city to Girls (Angela McRobbie, Rosalind Gill, Diane Negra). Queer studies and Gaga feminism (Butler, Halberstam). Popular feminisims. Gender inequality and cultural work.

Seminar 3: Pop Feminism

Reading:

Gill, Rosalind. 2016. Post-postfeminism?: new feminist visibilities in postfeminist times. Feminist Media Studies, 16(4), 610–630.

5. Fandom and participatory culture

Fandom, poaching and the remaking of culture hierarchies (Henry Jenkins). Affirmative vs transformative practices (wikis, fanfics, fanvids, cosplay, Henry Jenkins, Camille Bacon-Smith, Francesca Coppa). Fandom and gender: slash and queer baiting. Fans, texts, and authors: canon/fanon (Jason Mittell). The mainstreaming of fandom and the third wave of fan studies. Fans and anti-fans (Jonathan Gray).

Seminar 4: What is an author?

Reading:  

Busse, Kristina. 2013. “The Return of the Author: Ethos and Identity Politics.” In A Companion to Media Authorship., edited by J. Gray and D. Johnson, 48–68. Malden (MA): Wiley Blackwell.

Teaching Methods

The course will consist of 10 in-person sessions:

• Lessons (weeks 1, 2, 4, 7 and 9), which include presentations by the professor of the key theoretical concepts of each lesson, as well as videos, short readings, and in-class discussions.
• 4 Seminars (weeks 3, 5, 8 and 10): Each seminar is linked to the writing of a short essay based on a mandatory reading. During the seminars, students will discuss the readings and their essays.

In addition, there will be also virtual tutoring sessions to prepare and discuss the course final essay (these tutoring sessions will be caried out outside class hours)

Evaluation

Participation in discussions and class assignments: Students must write 4 short essays based on mandatory readings and discuss them in class. Thorough the course, students are expected to actively engage in debates and in-class discussions.

Course Essay: Students must write a 2,500-word essay on a subject related to the contents of the course. They must discuss the preparation of the paper with the instructor in tutoring sessions.

Attendance: Students must attend 80% of the online sessions (i.e. proper justification will be required for more than 2 missed sessions).

Bibliography and information resources

Allen, Robert C. (ed.). 1992. Channels of discourse, reassembled. London: Routledge.

Ang, Ien. 1991. Watching Dallas. Soap Opera and the melodramatic imagination. London: Routledge

Biressi, Anita; and Nunn, Heather. 2005. Reality TV. Realism and revelation. London: Wallflower

Fiske, John. 1992. Understanding Popular Culture. London: Routledge. 

Gill, Rosalind. 2007. Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549407075898.

Gray, Jonathan. 2010. Show sold separately: Promos, spoilers, and other media paratexts. New York: NYU Press.

Hebdige, Dick. 1979. Subculture. The meaning of style. London: Routledge.

Holmes, Su, and Jermyn, Deborah (eds.). 2004. Understanding reality television. London: Routledge

Jenkins, Henry. 1992. Textual poachers: Television fans & participatory culture. London: Routledge.

Lawler, Steph. 2008. Identity. Sociological perspectives. Cambridge: Polity.

McRobbie, Angela. 2016. Be creative. Making a living in the new culture industries. Cambridge: Polity

Marshall, P. David. 1997. Celebrity and power. Fame in contemporary culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Ouellette, Laurie, and Hay, James. 2008. Better living through reality TV. Malden (MA): Blackwell publishing.

Skeggs, Beverly. 2004. Class, self, culture. London: Routledge.

Skeggs, Beverly, and Woods, Helen. 2013. Reacting to Reality TV: Performance, Audience and Value. London: Routledge.

Tasker, Yvonne, and Negra, Diane. 2007. Interrogating Postfeminsim: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture. Duke University Press.

Tyler, Imogen. 2013. Revolting subjects. Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain. London: ZED Books

Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

The course main aim is to study, discuss and understand popular media through the perspective of cultural studies. Cultural studies have long been interested in the relationship between culture and power. From this point of view, popular culture is viewed as a site where social tensions and debates are represented and condensed.

The course examines and discusses several examples of popular media (such as soap operas, pop music, celebrities, reality television, fashion) to better understand their role in legitimating, reinforcing, but also challenging, social order and inequality. The course also studies how audiences interpret and engage with media texts.

Cultural studies use a broad range of qualitative methods to study the values conveyed by media texts, how audiences respond to them and how these texts and practices relate to social and ideological debates. The course will also question the ideological implications of research methods and the relationship between knowledge and power. Concepts such as representation, power, inequality, gender and class will be central in this course

Learning outcomes

Critically evaluate the role of media and popular culture in the production and reproduction of inequality and identify the ways in which popular culture might provide resources for challenging social order.

Understand how audiences engage with popular culture through affirmative and transformative practices.

Critically reflect on the ideological implications of research methods and the relationship between knowledge and power.

Discuss the relationship between cultural and social hierarchies and understanding their role in supporting inequality.

Engage in the current debates about cultural studies, popular media, ideology, and inequality.

Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Contents

1. Introduction: Cultural studies, popular culture, and ideology

From mass culture to popular culture: What are cultural studies? What is popular culture? Raymond Williams and the concept of culture; the ideology of mass culture. Theoretical and methodological framework: Semiotics (Roland Barthes); Marxism (Althusser, Gramsci); reception studies (Stuart Hall: Encoding/Decoding; Poaching and appropriation; Charlotte Brunsdon and David Morley: The Nationwide Project; Ien Ang); Dick Hebdige and subculture; Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of taste. The debate about “quality and inequality”

2. Celebrity and power

What is celebrity and why study it? The celebritzation of society (Oliver Driessens). Celebrity culture, capitalist values and the legitimation of inequality (Richard Dyer, Jo Littler). Celebrity, identity, and ‘social types’ (Richard Dyer, David P. Marshall). Reality TV and the ‘democratization’ of celebrity (Su Holmes). Microcelebrities and influencers (Alice E. Marwik, Ann Jerslev).

Seminar 1. Celebrity culture and working class stereotypes

Reading:

Tyler, Imogen, Bennett, Bruce. 2010. “Celebrity chav”. Fame, femininity and social class. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(3), 375–393.

3. Reality TV and neoliberal governmentality

Reality television and the remaking of the public sphere (Sonia Livingston and Peter Lunt). First person media, confession, and surveillance (Mark Andrejevic, Nick Couldry, Jon Dovey). Neoliberal governmentality and makeover shows (Michel Foucault, Nikolas Rose). Reality TV and the ethics of play (Miguel Sicart, Annette Hill).

Seminar 2. Contemporary labour imaginaries

Reading:

Ouellette, Laurie. 2013. "America's Next Top Model: Neoliberal Labor." A: Thompson, E.; Mittell, J. How to watch television (pp. 168-176). New York: New York University Press

Duffy, Brooke Erin, & Wissinger, Elisabeth. 2017. Mythologies of creative work in the social media age: Fun, free, and “just being me.” International Journal of Communication, 11, 4652–4671

4. Gender and popular media

Cultural studies and feminism. Soap operas and romantic novels: Ien Ang, Charlotte Brunsdon, Tania Modleski, Janice Radway, Joke Hermes. Postfeminism and television series: from Sex and the city to Girls (Angela McRobbie, Rosalind Gill, Diane Negra). Queer studies and Gaga feminism (Butler, Halberstam). Popular feminisims. Gender inequality and cultural work.

Seminar 3: Pop Feminism

Reading:

Gill, Rosalind. 2016. Post-postfeminism?: new feminist visibilities in postfeminist times. Feminist Media Studies, 16(4), 610–630.

5. Fandom and participatory culture

Fandom, poaching and the remaking of culture hierarchies (Henry Jenkins). Affirmative vs transformative practices (wikis, fanfics, fanvids, cosplay, Henry Jenkins, Camille Bacon-Smith, Francesca Coppa). Fandom and gender: slash and queer baiting. Fans, texts, and authors: canon/fanon (Jason Mittell). The mainstreaming of fandom and the third wave of fan studies. Fans and anti-fans (Jonathan Gray).

Seminar 4: What is an author?

Reading:  

Busse, Kristina. 2013. “The Return of the Author: Ethos and Identity Politics.” In A Companion to Media Authorship., edited by J. Gray and D. Johnson, 48–68. Malden (MA): Wiley Blackwell.

Teaching Methods

The course will consist of 10 in-person sessions:

• Lessons (weeks 1, 2, 4, 7 and 9), which include presentations by the professor of the key theoretical concepts of each lesson, as well as videos, short readings, and in-class discussions.
• 4 Seminars (weeks 3, 5, 8 and 10): Each seminar is linked to the writing of a short essay based on a mandatory reading. During the seminars, students will discuss the readings and their essays.

In addition, there will be also virtual tutoring sessions to prepare and discuss the course final essay (these tutoring sessions will be caried out outside class hours)

Evaluation

Participation in discussions and class assignments: Students must write 4 short essays based on mandatory readings and discuss them in class. Thorough the course, students are expected to actively engage in debates and in-class discussions.

Course Essay: Students must write a 2,500-word essay on a subject related to the contents of the course. They must discuss the preparation of the paper with the instructor in tutoring sessions.

Attendance: Students must attend 80% of the online sessions (i.e. proper justification will be required for more than 2 missed sessions).

Bibliography and information resources

Allen, Robert C. (ed.). 1992. Channels of discourse, reassembled. London: Routledge.

Ang, Ien. 1991. Watching Dallas. Soap Opera and the melodramatic imagination. London: Routledge

Biressi, Anita; and Nunn, Heather. 2005. Reality TV. Realism and revelation. London: Wallflower

Fiske, John. 1992. Understanding Popular Culture. London: Routledge. 

Gill, Rosalind. 2007. Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549407075898.

Gray, Jonathan. 2010. Show sold separately: Promos, spoilers, and other media paratexts. New York: NYU Press.

Hebdige, Dick. 1979. Subculture. The meaning of style. London: Routledge.

Holmes, Su, and Jermyn, Deborah (eds.). 2004. Understanding reality television. London: Routledge

Jenkins, Henry. 1992. Textual poachers: Television fans & participatory culture. London: Routledge.

Lawler, Steph. 2008. Identity. Sociological perspectives. Cambridge: Polity.

McRobbie, Angela. 2016. Be creative. Making a living in the new culture industries. Cambridge: Polity

Marshall, P. David. 1997. Celebrity and power. Fame in contemporary culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Ouellette, Laurie, and Hay, James. 2008. Better living through reality TV. Malden (MA): Blackwell publishing.

Skeggs, Beverly. 2004. Class, self, culture. London: Routledge.

Skeggs, Beverly, and Woods, Helen. 2013. Reacting to Reality TV: Performance, Audience and Value. London: Routledge.

Tasker, Yvonne, and Negra, Diane. 2007. Interrogating Postfeminsim: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture. Duke University Press.

Tyler, Imogen. 2013. Revolting subjects. Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain. London: ZED Books