Popular Culture: Beyond Entertainment

Popular culture shapes how we think and feel, how we relate to one another; in short, how we imagine and live our lives. This subject examines the dynamics between popular culture, media consumption, and our social worlds. It will draw on students’ own consumption of popular culture as entry points to explore the various roles mass-mediated popular culture plays in our lives. From pop music and blockbuster films to viral videos, memes and selfies, this course interrogates: How can we define what is ‘popular’? What do debates about popular culture tell us about current political anxieties? And how does popular culture maintain, reproduce or challenge our existing social and political formations within and across cultures in an increasingly globalized world? The subject is organized around a series of questions about production, regulation and consumption that will introduce students to a range of key concepts in cultural studies. The goal is to familiarise students with debates in cultural studies about the politics of mass culture, popular culture and viral culture, drawing from examples of both twentieth century and contemporary computer-mediated cultural practices.

• 1Explain how popular culture maintains, reproduces or challenges our existing social and political formations within and across cultures in an increasingly globalized world.
• 2Discuss current popular culture research.
• 3Examine the dynamics between popular culture, media consumption, and our social worlds.
• 4Discuss their own consumption of popular culture as an entry point for exploring the various roles mass-mediated popular culture plays in our lives.
• 5Define what is 'popular'.
• 6Compare debates in the field of cultural studies that concern the politics of mass culture, popular culture and viral culture.