Department of English

Rumor has it that more than half of Penn’s undergrads aspire towards a career in finance. Regardless of whether you are one of them, almost all of us, at some point after—if not before—graduation, will need to work in exchange for a wage that is the stuff of our lives; such is the imperative of living under capitalism. But as life gets determined on the side of capital, does anything exist apart from it? What are we to make of the relations between capital’s subsumption and life’s excess?

This course aims to help us develop and sustain a critical perspective towards the world of finance and that of work more broadly through a study of the television series Industry (2020—present). Hailed by critics as one of the best shows of the decade, the financial thriller features a diverse group of fresh graduates as they navigate the treacherous working life of adulthood in and beyond a London investment bank. We will follow these young bankers’ risky decisions, messy desires, ruthless intrigues, and heartbreaking compromises over the course of four seasons, considering what happens when work becomes one’s sole means of existence and how it affects us differently in relation to race, gender, sexuality, and class. We will also think critically about the “industry” of streaming television and our own participation therein, as binging becomes an increasingly popular means for us to “recover” or “escape” from our burnout at the end of a working day. Readings will cover a wide range of scholarly fields, from Marxism, queer theory, and critical race studies to aesthetic theory and TV studies. Assignments include brief weekly response papers, a presentation, and a final creative project or critical essay. No previous experience in the analysis of film and TV is necessary.