The Power of Pop Culture

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Taylor Swift can move the needle of global economies. George Clooney’s opinion can rock a president’s re-election campaign. And Harvey Weinstein was the tipping point of the #metoo movement. In this course, we’ll examine the role of the journalist as interpreter, investigator and critic of pop culture. From in-the-moment red carpet coverage to classic Vanity Fair celebrity interviews to comprehensive cultural critiques and deep institutional investigative reporting, we’ll explore how journalists work to uncover and decipher the impact of political, social, and economic moments played out on a variety of platforms to mass appeal. How does journalism capture and translate pop culture moments in fashion, television, music, books, food, art and sports? What makes a successful piece of cultural criticism? The class will invite students to use a variety of critical approaches to question the role of popular culture in our lives. Students will cover a pop culture event, review a pop culture product, write about a pop culture trend and analyze the power of a pop culture artifact or phenomenon by determining its impact and significance on society.