COMM 330 Mass Media & Popular Culture, Spring
1999
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
University of Illinois–Chicago, 385 BSB
Kevin G. Barnhurst,
Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Communication
Hours: Tues. & Thurs. 9 – 9:30, 2 – 3:30, and by appointment
(312) 413-3231
Office 1148A BSB.
Tentative
Outline
Grading Criteria
Attendance Policy
Examines the reasons for taking popular culture, and its relationship to the mass media, seriously. Begins with a definition of pop culture and an overview of recent theories useful to understanding it. Then turns to the artifacts of popular culture, material objects and images including icons, heroes, stereotypes, genres, rituals, and myths. Focuses on the role of producers of mass media in the popularization of these cultural artifacts. Concludes with the major processes of reception for popular culture among media audiences.
The goals of the course are: to understand the importance of the media an popular culture, to gain the skills to analyze its artifacts, to explore its production, and to know the processes of its reception.
To reach these goals, we will join in the following activities:
Reading. Each member of the class will read one or several articles (roughly 25–50 pages in all, depending on the difficulty) and summarize each one for the rest of the class. The summary will be distributed on a listserv. All class members are responsible to know the contents of the summaries for each unit.
Presentations. For each reading, the principal reader will make a short (7 minute) presentation to the class. In addition, you will make short presentations of your assignments in class, often to small groups. In other words, be prepared to do several class presentations throughout the semester.
Discussion. The class will participate in a computer based discussion list. To subscribe, send to <listserve@info.comm.uic.edu> the following line: sub comm330 Your Name
Groups. Small groups will also be organized for study and for in-class activities. Your attendance and participation in the group is essential for success in the course.
Exercises. In the second week of class, you'll write a short (3–5 page) essay of your life experiences with popular culture in the media. Later in the semester you will also produce a scrapbook (see "Journal" below) and interview a media producer. The final class exercise will be a gaming/simulation. All exercises count as full credit for those completing them.
Journal. For part of the semester, you will also collect a scrapbook of popular culture materials from the media and organize them by the topics of the class (see Unit II. in the outline). Annotate each item with a label and full source information. At the end of the semester, you will keep a media use diary, in which you record the date, day, time and length, medium, program title, and comments (see Unit IV, in the outline).
Exams. Four quizzes will cover the material
for each of the four units. There is no midterm exam. The no-study final will
be a graded activity for which you cannot prepare other than participating fully
in the class.
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January 12, Introduction.
Major assignment: Life history essay (due Jan.
21).
January 14, Introductory lecture. Readings
1A.
Schudson, Michael. "The New Validation
of Popular Culture: Sense & Sentimentality in Academia." Critical Studies
in Mass Communication .4 (1987): 51–68.
Malcolmson,
Robert. "Popular Recreations Under Attack." In Popular Culture: Past and
Present, pp. 20–46. Ed. Bernard Waites, et al. London: Open Univ. Press.
Also, 4I.
January 19, Readings 1B. Life history help session.
(Ryan Rogers)
Marc, David. "TV Critic's Code." In Popular
Culture in America, pp. 3–6. Ed. Paul Buhle. Minneapolis: Univ. of
Minnesota Press, 1987.
Cawelti, John. "Notes Toward an Aesthetic
of Popular Culture." Journal of Popular Culture 5.2 (1971): 255–68.
Becker,
Howard. "Culture: A Sociological View." In Doing Things Together, pp.
11–24. Evanston: Northwestern Univ. Press, 1986.
January 21, Readings 1B.
Mukerji, Chandra, and Michael Schudson.
"Popular Culture." Annual Review of Sociology 12 (1986): 47–66.
Hall, Stuart. "Encoding/Decoding." In
Culture, Media, Language, pp. 128–138. Ed. Hall et al. CITY: Hutchinson,
1980.
Gans, Herbert. Popular Culture &
High Culture, pp. 19–30, 51–64. New York: Basic Books, 1974. Counts
as two readings.
Assignment 1 due: Turn
in life history, questionnaire, and release form. (Ryan Rogers)
January 26, Life history debriefing. Web Page
Readings due.
http://www.uic.edu/~kgbcomm/lifehist
Quiz
1 (on readings and lecture to Unit I).
Major assignment: Media artifacts scrapbook
(due Feb. 23).
January 28, Introductory
lecture.
February 2, Readings 2A. Icons.
Marcus, Greil. "The Road Away from Graceland."
In Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession, pp. 60-67. New York:
Doubleday, 1991.
Williamson, Judith. "Urban Spacemen."
In Consuming Passions, pp. 209–212. New York: Marion Boyars, 1985.
Fiske,
John. "The Jeaning of America." In Understanding Popular Culture, pp.
1–21. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
February 4, Readings 2B. Heroes.
Gaines, J. "Superman, Television, and
the Protective Strength of the Trademark," pp. 208–27; "Dead Ringer: Jacqueline
Onassis and the Look-alike," pp. 84–104. Contested Culture. Chapel
Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Andrae, Thomas. "From Menace to Messiah:
The History and Historicity of Superman." In American Media & Mass Culture,
pp. 124–138. See Lazere, 1987.
Ehrenreich, Barbara. "The Wretched of
the Hearth: The Undainty Feminism of Roseanne Arnold." In Popular Culture:
An Introductory Text, pp. 366–73. Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin Lause.
Bowling Green: Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
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February 9, Readings 2C. Stereotypes.
Hoppenstand, Gary. "Yellow Devil Doctors
and Opium Dens: The Yellow Peril Stereotype in Mass Media Entertainment." In
Popular Culture: An Introductory Text, pp. 277–91. Ed. Jack Nachbar
& Kevin Lause. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
Craig, Robert L. 1991. "Designing Ethnicity:
The Ideology of Images." Design Issues 7.2 (Spring): 34–42.
Caputi,
Jane, with Susan Nance. "One Size Does Not Fit All: Being Beautiful, Thin and
Female in America." In Popular Culture: An Introductory Text, pp. 292–311.
Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin Lause. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State Univ.
Popular Press, 1992.
February 11, Readings 2D. Genres.
Schatz, Thomas. "The Western." In Popular
Culture: An Introductory Text, pp. 430–44. Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin
Lause. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
Derry, Charles. "Television Soap Opera:
'Incest, Bigamy, and Fatal Disease'." In Popular Culture: An Introductory
Text, pp. 445–62. Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin Lause. Bowling Green:
Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
Evans,
Walter. "Monster Movies: A Sexual Theory." In Popular Culture: An Introductory
Text, pp. 463–73. Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin Lause. Bowling Green:
Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
February 16, Readings 2E. Rituals
Lull, J. "Constructing Rituals of Extension
Through Family Television Viewing." In World Families Watch Television,
pp. 237–60. Ed. J. Lull. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1988.
Real, Michael. "Ritual Analysis: The Global
Olympic Event." Super Media, pp. 222–249. Newbury Park, Calif.:
Sage, 1989.
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February 18, Readings 2F.Myths
Reich, Robert. "Four Morality Tales."
In Popular Culture: An Introductory Text, pp. 110–20. Ed. Jack Nachbar
& Kevin Lause. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
Nachbar, Jack. "Culture & Continuity:
Three American Myths in the Prints of Currier & Ives. In Popular Culture:
An Introductory Text, pp. 121–33. Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin Lause.
Bowling Green: Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
Marsden, Madonna. "The American Myth of
Success: Visions and Revisions." In Popular Culture: An Introductory Text,
pp. 134–48. Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin Lause. Bowling Green: Bowling
Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
Kile,
Crystal. "Endless Love will Keep Us Together: The Myth of Romantic Love and
Contemporary Popular Movie Love Themes." In Popular Culture: An Introductory
Text, pp. 149–66. Ed. Jack Nachbar & Kevin Lause. Bowling Green:
Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, 1992.
February 23, Media artifacts scrapbook due.
Quiz
2 (readings and lecture to Unit II).
Major assignment: Interview with media producer
and presentation (due March 30).
February
25, Introductory lecture.
March 2, Readings 3A&B. Art and books.
Becker, Howard. "Art Worlds and Collective
Activity." Art Worlds, pp. 1–39. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press,
1982.
Radway, Janice. Reading the Romance,
pp. 86–118. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1984.
March 4, Readings 3C. Film and television.
Kapsis, Robert. "Hollywood Filmmaking
and Audience Image." In Media, Audience and Social Structure, pp. 161–173.
See Ball–Rokeach & Cantor, 1986.
Newcomb, Horace, and Robert Alley. "The
Television Producer: An Introduction." TV: The Producer's Medium, pp.
3–45. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1983.
Ang, Ien. "Dallas and the Ideology of
Mass Culture." In Watching Dallas, pp. 86–116. London: Methuen,
1985.
Liebes, Tamar, and Elihu Katz. "On Viewing
Dallas Overseas." The Export of Meaning, pp. 3–33. New York: Oxford,
1990.
Liebes, Tamar, and Elihu Katz. "Mutual
Aid in the Decoding of Dallas." The Export of Meaning, pp. 82–99.
New York: Oxford, 1990.
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March 9, Readings 3C. Film and television.
Cantor, Muriel. "The Producer: His Training
& Commitment." The Hollywood TV Producer, pp. 71–90. New York:
Basic Books, 1971.
Cantor, Muriel. "The Producer & the
Network: Professional vs. Bureaucracy." The Hollywood TV Producer, pp.
116–143. New York: Basic Books, 1971.
Gitlin, Todd. "Prologue." Inside Prime
Time, pp. 3–30. New York: Pantheon, 1983.
Gitlin, Todd. "'Hill Street Blues': Make
it Look Messy." Inside Prime Time, pp. 273–324. New York: Pantheon,
1983.
Gitlin, Todd. "Epilogue." Inside
Prime Time, pp. 325–335. New York: Pantheon, 1983.
March 11, Readings 3D. News and newspapers.
Barnhurst, Kevin G. "Seeing the Newspaper."
Seeing the Newspaper, pp. 1-19. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.
Manoff, Robert Karl. "Writing the News
(By Telling the 'Story')." In Reading the News, pp. 197–229. Ed.
Manoff & Michael Schudson. New York: Pantheon, 1986.
Zelizer,
Barbie. "What's Rather Public about Dan: TV Journalism and the Emergence of
Celebrity." Journal of Popular Film and Television, Summer 1989: 74–80.
March 15–19, Spring vacation. No classes.
March 23, Readings 3E&F. Advertising, publicity,
and fashion.
Steiner, Linda. "Oppositional Decoding
as an Act of Resistance." Critical Studies in Mass Communication 5 (1988):
1–15.
Miller, Mark Crispin. "Massa Come Home."
In Boxed In, pp. 31–39. Evanston: Northwestern Univ. Press, 1988.
Gaines, J. "Dead Ringer: Jacqueline Onassis
and the Look-alike," pp. 84–104. Contested Culture. Chapel Hill:
Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1991. Repeats.
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March 25, Readings 3H (no G). Music.
Williamson, Judith. "It's Different for
Girls." In Consuming Passions, pp. 47–54. New York: Marion Boyars,
1985.
Frith, Simon. "Towards an Aesthetic of
Popular Music." In Music & Society, pp. 133-49. Ed. Richard Leppert
& Susan McClary. Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press, 1987.
Jones, Steve. "Rock, Roll 'n' Record."
In Rock Formations, pp. 184–208. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1992.
Frith, Simon. "Rock and Popular Culture."
In American Media and Mass Culture, pp. 293–308. Berkeley: Univ.
of California Press, 1987.
Lipsitz, George. "Working People's Music."
In American Media & Mass Culture, pp. 293–308. See Lazere, 1987.
Hebdige,
Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style, pp. 46–70. New York: Routledge,
1979.
March 30, Assignment 3, Media producer interview due (presentation).
April 1, Quiz 3 (Unit III only).
Major assignment: Media use diary (due April
29).
April 6, Introductory lecture.
April 8, Readings 4A. Social control.
Lazere, Donald. "Introduction: Entertainment
as Social Control." In American Media & Mass Culture: Left Perspectives,
pp. 1–9. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1987.
Ang, Ien. "Dallas and the Ideology of
Mass Culture." In Watching Dallas, pp. 86–116. London: Methuen,
1985. (Repeat.)
Gans, Herbert. "The Sources
& Biases of the Mass Culture Critique." Popular Culture & High Culture,
pp. 51–64.
April 13, Readings 4C (no B). Empowerment.
Grossberg, Larry. "Is There Rock After
Punk?" Critical Studies in Mass Communication 3 (1986): 50–74.
Fiske, John. "Moments of Television: Neither
the Text Nor the Audience." In Remote Control: Television, Audiences &
Cultural Power, pp. 56–778. Ed. E. Seiter. New York: Routledge, 1989.
Jenkins, Henry. "Star Trek Rerun, Reread,
Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching." In Close Encounters: Film, Feminism
& Science Fiction, pp. 171–202. Ed. Constance Penley, et al. Minneapolis:
Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1991.
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April 15, Readings 4D&E. Politization and
globalization.
Golding, P., and G. Murdock. "Culture,
Communications, and Political Economy." Mass Media & Society, pp.
15–32. Ed. J. Curran & Michael Gurevitch. London: Edward Arnold, 1991.
Kuntzle, David. "Introduction to the English
Edition." In How to Read Donald Duck, pp. 11–14, 20–21. By
Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart. New York: International General, 1971.
Wallis, R., and K. Malm. "Patterns of
Change." In On Record, pp. 160–80. Ed. S. Frith and A. Goodwin.
New York: Pantheon, 1984.
Goodwin, A., and J. Gore. "World Beat
and the Cultural imperialism Debate." Socialist Review 20.3 (July-September
1990): 63–80.
Liebes, Tamar, and Elihu
Katz. "Cultural Differences in the Retelling of an Episode." The Export of
Meaning, pp. 68–81. New York: Oxford, 1990.
April 20, Readings 4F&G. Commodification
and commercialization.
Angus, Ian H., and Sut Jhally. "Introduction."
In Cultural Politics in Contemporary America, pp. 1–14. New York:
Routledge, 1989.
Williamson, Judith. "The Politics of Consumption."
In Consuming Passions, pp. 229–233. New York: Marion Boyars, 1985.
Lipsitz,
George. "Popular Culture: This Ain't No Sideshow." In Time Passages,
pp. 3–20. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1990.
April 22, Readings 4H&I. Domesticity and
leisure.
Rogge, Jan-Uwe. "The Media in Everyday
Family Life." Remote Control: Television, Audience & Cultural Power.
Ed. Ellen Seiter, Hans Borchers, Gabriele Kreutzner & Eva-Maria Warth. London:
Routledge, 1989.
Frith, Simon. "Rock and Leisure." In Sound
Effects, pp. 249–72. New York: Pantheon, 1981.
Fiske, John. "Reading the Beach." Reading
the Popular, pp. 43–76. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
Malcolmson, Robert. "Popular Recreations
Under Attack." In Popular Culture: Past and Present, pp. 20–46.
Ed. Bernard Waites, et al. London: Open Univ. Press.
Katz, Elihu, and David Foulkes. "On the
Uses of the Mass Media as 'Escape': Clarification of a Concept." Public Opinion
Quarterly 26 (1962): 378–88.
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April 27, Gaming/simulation day.
April 29, Quiz 4 (covering Unit IV only).
Assignment
4: Media use diary due.
April 30, F Instruction ends. Last day to turn in work. No work accepted after today.
May 4, 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon, No-study final exam.
Attendance, discussions 10 percent
Readings & presentations 10 percent
Group work and evaluation 5 percent
Gaming/simulation 5 percent
List history essay 10 percent
Annotated media scrapbook 10 percent
Producer interview & presentation 10 percent
Media use diary 10 percent
Quizzes (5 percent each) 20 percent
Final exam 10 percent
Regular attendance is essential to your success in the class and to the success of the course as a group. If you aren't able to come fully prepared to class, please come anyway. You'll benefit. Please talk to me in case of illness or another emergency that prevents you from attending class.
Be sure to make arrangements if you must turn
in work late. Unless due to illness, late work will be penalized one grade for
each week (or partial week) late. No work for the course will be accepted after
April 30.
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