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| | GHUM
1180 Pop Culture
Winter 2010
Test Notes
Test Preview: Weeks 1 to 14
Your tests are formulated
(1) in one or two word, short-answer format (six word
maximum) and (2)
in short-sentence
format. The
following are discussion questions that will help to focus your studies on the issues
that are most pertinent to the course.
Any numbers
next to readings refer to their place on the "Readings"
page.
Responsibilities:
(1) the
readings,
(2) the films shown in class,
and (3) lecture notes
| For your sake, please don't miss
the MID-TERM TEST or the FINAL EXAM. Both the mid-term makeup test
and the final makeup exam (for those absent from the scheduled tests) are spoken
or oral exams, conducted on an individual
basis. |
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Test Format:
ü Short answer (one-to-six
words)
and short-sentence formats (details T.B.A.)
ü 30 Questions (content: {1} readings, {2} films, {3}
lectures)
ü OPEN
BOOK: any printed materials may be brought into the test; do
not bring computers or any other electronic devices (no BlackBerrys,
IPods, headphones, etc). All telephones will be turned
off and placed in knapsacks.
ü 2.5 hours: students will be finished by
2:30.
ü Punctuality required:
Test begins promptly at 12:00.
All students must
be present by ½ hour into the test; all students must arrive by
12:30. No exceptions.
ü Special needs students (only those
who have pre-identified with the professor): please inform the professor,
in Week 6, if your test will be administered in the Testing Centre.
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Week 1: Introduction to Pop
- What
is pop culture? How does
it serve as “distraction”?
- What
does “bread and circuses” mean?
- What
is the goal of American foreign policy, according to both Ramsey Clark
and the PNAC?
-
NEW: Explain how Clark feels
about this goal... Conversely, how do the PNAC regard this goal.
- How
is pop culture the “non-violent” means of achieving this goal?
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Q:
Define and discuss 'Pop Culture.'
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1)
'A Baseline Definition of Culture'
http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learn-modules/top_culture/culture-definition.html
People
learn culture. That, we suggest, is culture's essential feature....
Culture,
as a body of learned behaviors common to a given human society, acts
rather like a template (ie. it has predictable form and content), shaping
behavior and consciousness within a human society from generation to
generation. So culture resides in all learned behavior and in some
shaping template or consciousness prior to behavior as well (that is, a
"cultural template" can be in place prior to the birth of an
individual person).
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2)
'What is Popular Culture?’
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring01/Falor/whatis.html
Popular
culture resists the boundaries of definition. It can mean something
different to every person. It
is
mass media, entertainment and diversions. It is heroes,
icons,
rituals,
psychology and religion. It
is a way of life, the voice of a people. It doesn't have to do with the
number of people involved, nor does it deal with quality. It is a lifestyle of a group of people, large or small.
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3)
'Why does Pop Matter?' Patrick Schabe http://www.popmatters.com/features/991018_schabe.html
Popular culture is all around us, everyday. We
have many names for it: Information Society, Junk Culture, Mass
Media, and
Crap are some of the most common. Each of those labels applies to a
specific aspect of the synergistic process of
popular
culture, but none of
those can really come close to appreciating the totality of the idea.
Popular culture is itself a system, not a fixed and located place where a
communication exchange occurs. What we experience as the fluctuating waves
of an ocean of data, sensory input and intellectual rationality is the
influence of popular culture in our lives.
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4)
'American Pop Penetrates Worldwide' Paul Farhi and Megan Rosenfeld,
Washington Post, Sunday, October 25, 1998; Page A1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/mia/part1.htm
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| Q:
On
what basis does Lear feel that America has become a game show?
Discuss...
"America has become a game
show.
Winning is all that matters. Cash prizes. Get-rich-quick. We are the
captives of a culture that celebrates instant gratification and individual
success no matter the larger costs."
http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article29.html
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| Q:
What
evidence do the authors offer to support their belief that certain aspects
of consumerism prevent safety, proper education, health, and productivity?
"There are a growing number of
people who are aware that these aspects of consumerism are some of the
main obstacles to them living in a pleasant safe community, seeing their
children well educated and living long healthy productive lives, without
squander and waste." http://www.verdant.net/society.htm
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Q: What is Reeves’ favourite quote, a
quote that, to a great extent, encapsulates the thesis of the whole
course?
Also:
REEVES’ INTRODUCTORY LECTURE: Bread and Circuses... based on the Roman
concept “Bread
and Circuses”
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8) Essential: The website of "The Project
for the New American Century"
http://www.newamericancentury.org/ |
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Week 2:
McLuhan, Semiotics, & Icons
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Q:
Be able to perform a rudimentary semiotic analysis on a magazine
advertisement. Know the
difference between a 'signifier' and the 'signified.'
Q:
What are the different levels of Maslow’s
hierarchy of
Needs?
How can these be used in the analysis of an icon, a product, an
advertisement, or a pop cultural phenomenon?
Also:
REEVES’ SECOND LECTURE: “Icons” |
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Q:
What is a cultural icon?
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| Q:
Who was McLuhan and what was his
'Extensions of
Man' theory?
What are its implications for your profession?
Apply this in pop culture icon
analysis.
Q:
What did he mean by 'The Medium is the
Message' and the user is the content?
Apply this in pop culture icon
analysis.
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Week 3: Music; Gender, Race, Class, & Pop Culture
- Cultural
appropriation
- The
history of resistance music in Western culture
- Romanticism:
alive and well (in the 'burbs... but not in the hood)
- The
history of marginalization of people-of-colour in modern popular music
(i.e. the history of modern popular music)
- Adverse
effects of videos and lyrics on children and on people of median
(average) I.Q.
- Product
placement
- Rest
in peace: the decline of the ideology of hip-hop
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Q: Discuss 'appropriation' of
culture.
In what way is most 20th century American popular music
appropriated?
Q: Just how much 20th Century popular music is derived from the music of
African and Caribbean Americans?
CLICK HERE...
Q: In what way can appropriation be considered to be “racist”?
Q: Discuss the relationships between music culture and consumerism.
Q: Discuss Romanticism in the 19th century and its legacy over the
last 200 years. What particular aspect of the definition of
Romanticism and Romantic art is of most interest to us when analyzing the
hip hop genre?
Q: What does it mean when
we assert that hip hop's important ideology is dead?
Q: Discuss product
placement in modern music. Why do music companies defend against
our obvious assertion that there is more product placement seen than
ever before?
Why do they contend that product placement is so common in video and in
music?
Also:
Reeves' presentation on Appropriation
and Romanticism
(see
"the noble savage", re: Romanticism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage)
When asked for a
definition of Romanticism, please do not reproduce one of these textbook
definitions--- be able to offer a definition that encompasses its
meaning as explained in Reeves' lecture (regarding the nobility of
marginalized and poor people and how that is still seen in 20th century
art and music).
Scientic Background and Statistics
relevant to Week 3's discussion of Adverse effects of videos and music
on children and on more vulnerable perceivers |
| Week 4: Hollywood & Consumerism
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Q: Tom Brokaw's award-winning documentary,
THE
NEW HOLLYWOOD,
expressed the worry of many, in 1990, that the movies were becoming
monopolized by a half dozen corporate giants, or conglomerates.
Is this kind of monopoly actually legal?
Who are these conglomerates? What
does vertical integration mean? What
is an anchor product? also: windows,
majors,
independents, exhibitors, distributors,
product
placement, merchandising,
anti-trust terminology (the 1948 laws,
monopolies, etc.)
Q: Discuss the relationships between the messages and values of
Hollywood
and the idea of consumerism.
Q: What does Jacobovici mean by the idea of
HOLLYWOODISM?
What values does
Hollywood
represent, and what is Jacobovici's theory as to how this value system
came about?
Discuss Neal Gabler and
Simcha
Jacobovici's 2 part theory.
(also, please know about
Edison).
FILMS:
-
Charlie Rose: The Road
to Innovation (with George Clooney & Michael Eisner)
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Behind the Screens:
Hypercommercialism
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Hollywoodism,
dir: Simcha Jacobovici
Also:
REEVES’ FOURTH LECTURE: “Hollywoodism
and the American Dream”
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Week 5:
Hollywood & Racism
- Race:
a tool of conquest
-
a
brief history of racism and slavery
- How
is racism manifested in popular culture?
- Invisibility
& marginalization
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Epithets
-
Imitations
-
Stereotypes
-
Power
dynamics
- How
is race a biological myth? How is race a "social
construct"?
- "Classified
X": Melvin Van Peebles two-part theory concerning the impact of
Hollywood movies on racism in
America
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Q: What is Van
Peebles' (2 part) theory concerning the effects of
stereotyping of the African-American in
Hollywood
motion pictures? Discuss.
Q: Discuss racial stereotypes and the media, using Balkaran,
Wilson,
and Van Peebles for support. Give
examples of stereotypes of various cultural groups.
Q: In what way is race a biological
myth?
Who benefits from the idea of race? Why?
Q: Which epic movie always gets blamed for being the first racist
film?
Q: What was the first
blockbuster "talkie"
picture?
What racist technique did its star use?
Q: Discuss Van
Peebles' descriptions of the various eras of blacks in
films.
Also:
REEVES’ FIFTH LECTURE: “Racism:
Tool of Conquest, Biological Myth”
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Week 6:
Art
- What
is art?
- Background:
Aesthetics & Shock art
- Post-war
art: technology & speed
-
Abstract expressionism
- Pop
Art
- Resistance
Art & Co-optation
- Post-Modernism
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Important Artists: Pollock, Rothko, Rauschenberg, Johns,
Hamilton, Lichtenstein, Warhol
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Q:
What was Warhol's achievement in the arts?
What did he accomplish?
Q: What is Pop Art? Who
was the first Pop artist?
Q: What is the theme of Warhol’s work (one word)?
Q: Which artists served as Warhol’s influences?
How, or in what way? To
what schools/types of art did these people belong?
Q:
Discuss the influence of the increased rate of technology in the 20th
century on the rate of change of art movements.
PLUS:
FILMS: "What's
This?" and "Art of the Western
World: In Our Time" with Michael
Wood |
Q: Discuss the idea of political resistance art.
How are murals used as resistance art and historical documents? The
Bogside Artists http://www.bogsideartists.com/
Q:
How are murals used to document community history and to bring
together diverse groups of citizens?
SPARC
Murals http://www.sparcmurals.org/
FILM: WALLS FOR CHANGE
Art/murals
used as a tool of resistance, as a tool of minority community
expression (film); Discuss
examples of places/locations where murals have been used to describe
historical events and community history.
Why
is this kind of art called "resistance art"?
Also:
REEVES’ SIXTH LECTURE: “Pop’s
creators”
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| NEW:
Optional: Check out...
http://www.artmovements.co.uk/home.htm#CHRONOLOGICAL
...for a better understanding of the exponential rate of progress from
one art movement to the next, in modern times |
AFTER INTERSESSION WEEK:
Week
9:
GENDER
- What
is gender (as opposed to sex or sexuality)?
- How
do human beings become 'gendered,' or enculturated into gender?
How early does gender enculturation occur, and what consumer products
are used to facilitate it?
- What
are our stereotypes of women? ...of men?
- What
stereotypical roles are given to men/to women in popular culture?
- What
effects does advertising have on men/on women?
- What
emotional/physiological effects do gender restrictions have on men/on
women?
- How
is societal violence, in part, a direct result of pop culture
definitions of masculinity?
- In
what respect could it be observed that the problem of gender and the
problem of class intersect?
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Q:
How are women depicted in the media?
What are the main stereotypes used to portray female characters? What effects can distorted images of women in the media
and in advertising have on the values systems, body images, and actions of
female viewers?
Q: What consumer
products and ideas are used to indoctrinate people into
socially-constructed gender roles?
1a) 'The
Portrayal of Women on Television' Helen Ingham http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9401.html
1b) "Millennial
Men" Rita Kempley http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF2004/Kempley/Kempley.html
2)
"The Selling of Addiction to Women" Carol Moog
http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article66.html
3) "How
the Advertising Industry Responded to the Onset of
the Modern Women’s Movement" Steve Craig
http://www.rtvf.unt.edu/html/craig/pdfs/madave.PDF
4) "Men's Men and Women's
Women: How Television Commercials Portray Gender to Different
Audiences." Steve Craig http://www.rtvf.unt.edu/html/craig/pdfs/menmen.pdf
5) "A
Content Analysis of Gender Differences in Children's Advertising"
Smith/Griffiths http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/lmg9307.html
"Toying with War" Craig Simpson
http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article248.html
FILMS: (a) Toying with their Future;
(b) The Famine Within (c) Reeves' Gender PPT
CLASS ISSUES...
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Week
10:
THE
CORPORATION
- What
is a corporation?
- What
is the historical background surrounding the corporation's increased
power in the 19th century?
- In
what way is the corporation a legal or juristic person?
- According
to the documentary, "The Corporation," if the corporation is
a legal person, what kind of person is it? What proof do the
filmmakers advance to support this assertion?
- What
are externalities? In what way is the corporation an
"externalizing machine"?
- What
is the primary goal of all corporations, a goal to which they are
bound by law?
- What
myth of corporate ethics and practices is shattered by Interface
Chairman Ray Anderson? What is the goal of Mr. Anderson with
respect to Interface's business practices? Is he successful in
his new paradigm?
- What
is the key issue in a corporation's decisions to abide by
environmental or corruption laws or, conversely, to break the law and
incur monetary penalties and fines?
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1) FILM: The
Corporation" Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, & Joel Balkan
http://www.thecorporation.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379225/
http://www.tvo.org/thecorporation/
2) Focus
on The Corporation
3) "Rethinking The Corporation" Virginia Rasmussen
http://www.poclad.org/articles/rasmussen02.html
4)
"Greening The
Corporation" Ward Morehouse http://dieoff.org/page62.htm
5)
"Kill The
Corporation" Dennis Fox http://www.alternet.org/story/13830
Essential Terminology
Explain how
The World is a Business... |
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***Who is Ray
Anderson? Is he a "right winger" or a "left
winger"? What has he proven, once and for all?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJj0akpSHYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EsyFUKd7SQ |
Week
11: aDVERTISING & cONSUMERISM
- Who
are you advertising today? (externalizing advertising costs through
"walking billboards")
- In
the "big picture" of our society, what is the medium and
what is the message?
- How
does advertising promote distraction, bread, and circuses?
- How
does advertising make us feel? Competent... attractive?
- What
are the main messages carried in advertising?
- What
evidence do you find that our society commodifies people?
- How
are people in our culture taught to be adult North Americans?
What consumer products are used to enculturate humans to be...
Americans? ... men & women? ... consumers?
- What
is shock advertising?
- How
do you feel about censorship of commercials? Should all subject
matter be permitted in ads?
-
Explain
how these experts/artists feel about this issue.... Ed McCabe &
Bill Tragos, Oliviero Toscani, Joe Pytka, Wim Wenders, Horst
Wackerbarth, Richard Kirshenbaum, David Bowie, Harvey Keitel, Rabbi
Henry Sobel
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WEEK
12: TELEVISION & CONSUMERISM
- What
is the free lunch?
- What
is television's role in the "big picture"?
- How
does television participate in
America
's foreign policy of world domination? What ideology is sold
internationally through television?
- How
would Ramsey Clark refer to television?
- What
is "the business of television"?
- What
are the two issues about a television show about which advertisers
care the most?
- Explain
"censorship by substitution.”
- The
texture of television, according to Richard Albarino, is a mixture of
what two elements?
- According
to Todd Gitlin, what three American values are presented on American
television? Explain these...
- Why
does an atmosphere of cynicism pervade the entire phenomenon of
television?
- How
do television and advertising censor the content of television, at
every level?
- What
is a good "environment" for a given TV ad (what kind of
show)?
- Explain
how Nixon was present at three key moments in the history of the
relationship between politics and television?
- What
does Gitlin mean when he says that TV is nothing but the
redistribution of its own moves? How does this relate to
post-modernism?
- In
what way do
L.A.
's TV people live in a culture of culturelessness? How many
people at the top participate in producing the content of TV?
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FILM:
The Truth about Lies: The Tube
is Reality
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Week
13:
MILITARISM
- Why
does
America
fight other countries?
- What
is the Military Industrial Complex? Name the four parts of the
MIC?
- Who
coined the term "Military Industrial Complex"?
- What
is a think tank? What is the most influential
Washington
think tank? Who are its most influential members? What is
the Office of Special Plans?
- How
is the history of militarism, since WW2, a history of lies?
Discuss the JFK issue, Watergate, the Iran Contra scandal, Rumsfeld
& Saddam.
- How
many American agencies are employed by the
US
government to produce "advocacy" news?
- According
to Chomsky, how many definitions of democracy exist in Western
culture? Why are there these different definitions?
- What
historical era, in modern history, caused the
US
military to commandeer the American media's coverage of war?
What divisive presidential statement, post-911, effectively silenced frank
press coverage of war?***
- How
did the
US
military censor coverage of the first Gulf War in the 1990s?
- How
did the
US
military censor coverage of the recent war in
Iraq
? Explain the genius of current system...
- What
do we not see on the American media's coverage of war?
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Week
14:
CONSPIRACY
THEORIES
- Why
are there conspiracy theories?
A culture of lies…
- JFK
- Princess
Diana
- Elvis
- Tupac
- Area
51
- Aliens
& Roswell
- Man
on the Moon
- 911
- The
Knights Templar
- The
Da Vinci Code & the Holy Grail
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What is a Conspiracy Theory?
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Conspiracy_theory
http://www.orwelltoday.com/conspiracy.shtml
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Page Sound Link from Orson Welles' Citizen
Kane (1941)
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