Department of English

This course will consider representation of gender and sexuality in twentieth- and twenty-first century US popular culture. Some of the questions we will address are: what are the distinctions between popular culture and its mass, elite, and subcultural counterparts? how does popular culture enforce intersecting gendered, racial, ethnic, sexual, and imperial norms? how does it incorporate oppositional politics? can the popular ever itself proclaim an oppositional or radical position in relation to dominant values? The course will consider a range of media (film, television, social media, visual art, music) and a range of genres (some that we might consider are fairy tales, romantic comedies, musicals, melodramas, road stories, gothic/horror, revenge stories, gangster/crime/procedural). We will study these cultural materials in relation to feminist and queer writing on race, sexuality, embodiment, and capitalism. Assignments will include several short essays, a class presentation, and a creative group project. 

Mandatory Recitations details are visible in Path@Penn.

English 0023.402 Staff, Friday 12:00-12:59pm

English 0023.403 Staff, Friday 12:00-12:59pm

English 0023.404 Staff, Friday 12:00-12:59pm

English 0023.405 Staff, Friday 12:00-12:59pm