UnSt 254 Examining Popular Culture

Popular Culture is generally associated with media and activities: music, movies, TV, Internet, advertising, sports, games, fashion, magazines, comic books—in short, “fun” stuff that many people enjoy. Pop culture offers a common ground that we, as theorist John Storey says, can use to get a fairly accurate read on the values and beliefs of contemporary American society, as well as cultures around the world. Through the process of myth reading and in recognizing and decoding signs of everyday life, students will observe, research, and write about cultural phenomena and gain experience with different methods while delving into popular media. The end goal of these courses is to gain control of, rather than being controlled by, the texts of popular culture.