Sources of Popular Aesthetics: Accessibility, the Mass Media and Popular Culture.
Description:
The seminar is structured around a historical sketch of the emergence of the mass media and popular aesthetics. Classes consist of a mixture of lectures, colloquiums, short assigned texts of a theoretical or academic nature, as well as multimedia primary sources. Students are invited to peruse and consider such questions as: the nature of accessibility, in both the physical and cultural sense of the term; the historical source and desirability of such categorizations as “popular” and “high” culture; the effects of mass media upon cultures and society; and the prospects for aesthetic categorization in the globalized and digitalized world.
Marks are awarded on the basis of students' preparation for and participation in the course meetings, as well as on the basis of a semester test whereby they should demonstrate a basic awareness of issues and terminology from the course. The structure of the course is chronological, beginning with oral and manuscript cultures and ending with the contemporary world. Reading assignments include both primary and secondary works; the reading load is up to 26 pages per week.
The discussion portions of the meetings will either involve open questions or students’ responses to the assigned readings. Multimedia aspects include clips of silent film, early recordings, Pop art, album covers and clips of vintage television. Students are invited to consider aesthetics, attention, accessibility, mass media and cultural hierarchy.
- Teacher: Jeremy Pomeroy