FLK 373 – Folklore & Mass Media
Spring 2012 Course Schedule
*Please note that I reserve the right to make changes to
the course, schedule, and/or readings at any time. Changes will be announced in advance in
class.
1/26-Class One
Introduction
- Selberg,
“Television and the Ritualization of Everyday Life” [handout]
2/2-Class Two
Media Literacy
- Maasik
and Solomon, “Popular Signs: Or, Everything You Always Knew about American
Culture (but Nobody Asked),” pp. 1-21
- Lewis
and Jhally, “The Struggle Over Media Literacy” [packet]
- Gray,
“Television Teaching: Parody, The Simpsons,
and Media Literacy Education” [packet]
personal journals due (#1)
2/9-Class Three
Deconstructing Media
·
Johnson, “Luckless in
New York: The Schleimiel and the Schlimazl in Seinfeld” [packet]
- Tafoya,
“Born in East L.A.: Cheech as the Chicano Moses” [packet]
- Alexander,
“Stephen King’s Carrie—A Universal Fairytale” [packet]
- Ward,
“The Lion King’s Mythic Narrative” [packet]
- Curtis
and Erion, “South Park and the Open Society,” pp. 296-303
ethnographic journals
due (#1)
2/16-Class Four
Advertising
- Jhally,
“Image Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture” [packet]
- Solomon, “Masters of
Desire: The Culture of American Advertising,” 524-534
- Twitchell, “What We Are to
Advertisers,” 192-196
- Wilson
& Gutierrez, “Advertising and People of Color” [packet]
2/23-Class Five
Consumer Culture
- Shames, “The More Factor,”
pp. 86-92
- Schlosser, “Kid
Customers,” pp. 222-226
- Kasser,
“Mixed Messages,” pp. 502-522
personal journals due (#2)
3/1-Class Six
Social Class
*Bring
in an example of mass media that is in some way related to social/economic
class. It can be a news story,
editorial, photo, advertisement, comic, or any other form of mass media. Be prepared to comment on its meaning and/or
significance.
- Kendall,
“Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption” [packet]
- Parenti,
“Class and Virtue,” pp. 406-409
- Manstsios,
“Media Magic: Making Class Invisible” [packet]
- Butsch, “Ralph, Fred,
Archie, and Homer: Why Television Keeps Re-creating the White Male
Working-Class Buffoon” [packet]
ethnographic journals due (#2)
3/8-Spring Break: NO CLASS!!
3/15-Class Seven
MIDTERM EXAM
3/22-Class Eight
The News and Worldviews
- Samuelson, “Picking
Sides for the News” [packet]
- Koppel, “The Death
of Real News” [packet]
- Morris, “Slanted
Objectivity?” [packet]
- Scahill, “The War on
Al-Jazeera” [packet]
3/29-Class Nine
Race & Ethnicity
- Omi,
“In Living Color: Race and American Culture,” pp. 655-666
- Steinhorn
and Diggs-Brown, “Virtual Integration: How the Integration of Mass Media
Undermines Integration” [packet]
- Woodbury, “Media
Stereotypes of Jews: From JAPs to MDs” [packet]
- Price,
“Working Class Whites,” pp. 678-683
personal journals due (#3)
4/5-Class Ten
Femininity
*Bring
in a magazine with photo advertisements.
- Douglas,
“Signs of Intelligent Life on TV,” pp. 307-311
- Kilbourne,
“The More You Subtract, The More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size”
[packet]
- Wolf,
“The Beauty Myth” [packet]
- Pozner,
“Dove's 'Real Beauty' Backlash,” pp. 214-216
ethnographic journals due (#3)
4/12-Class Eleven
Masculinity
- Katz,
“Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity” [packet]
- Messner,
“Power at Play: Sport and Gender Relations,” pp. 635-645
- Dundes, “Into the
Endzone for a Touchdown” [packet]
4/19-Class Twelve
Sexual Orientation
- Hart,
“Representing Gay Men on American Television” [packet]
- Connolly,
“Homosexuality on Television: The Heterosexualization of Will &
Grace,” pp. 315-325
- Medhurst, “Batman,
Deviance, and Camp,” pp. 592-606
personal journals due (#4)
4/26-Class Thirteen
Tying it all together: Hip-Hop Culture
- Tucker, “Thug Culture,” pp. 326-328
- Morgan,
“From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos” [packet]
- PBS, “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” [packet]
- Kelly, “Mercedes most
rapped-about brand in 2005” [packet]
5/3-Class Fourteen
Catch up, review for final.
ethnographic journals due (#4)
5/10-Class Fifteen
FINAL EXAM
(same time, same
place)