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21L.430

Popular Culture and Narrative

3-0-9 units. HASS-H · Undergraduate

Examines relationships between popular culture and art, focusing on problems of evaluation and audience, and the uses of different media within a broader social context. Typically treats a range of narrative and dramatic works as well as films. Previously taught topics include Elements of Style; Gender, Sexuality and Popular Narrative. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Approved for credit in Women's and Gender Studies when content meets the requirements for subjects in that program. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor.

Fall 2015 · Popular Culture and Narrative: Use and Abuse of the Fairy Tale

Topics

  • Introduction: Folklore and Print Culture; Links between Oral Tradition and Literary Culture
  • John M. Ellis: One Fairy Story Too Many ; Germany in the Age of the Grimms; Perrault and the Written Fairy Tale Tradition
  • Classic Fairy Tales
  • Vladimir Propp: The Russian Folktale
  • Robert Kirk: The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies
  • Bruno Bettelheim: The Uses of Enchantment ; Freudian Theory and the Fairy Tale
  • Marie–Louise von Franz, Jungian Theory and the Fairy Tale
  • The Literary Fairy Tale: Hans Christian Andersen and After
  • Abuse of the Fairy Tale?: The Nazis and German Folklore, Christa Kamenetsky, and Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  • Classic Angela Carter Stories
  • Liz Lochead: Grimm Sisters
  • Last Class

Readings

Spring 2013 · Popular Culture and Narrative: Serial Storytelling

Serial Storytelling examines the ways the passing and unfolding of time structures narratives in a range of media. From Rembrandt's lifetime of self-portraits to The Wire, Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers to contemporary journalism and reportage, we will focus on the relationships between popular culture and art, the problems of evaluation and audience, and the ways these works function within their social context.

Fall 2010 · Popular Culture and Narrative: Literature, Comics, and Culture

In this course, we will investigate popular culture and narrative by focusing on the relationship between literary texts and comics. Several questions shape the syllabus and provide a framework for approaching the course materials: How do familiar aspects of comics trace their origins to literary texts and broader cultural concerns? How have classic comics gone on to influence literary fiction? In what ways do contemporary graphic narratives bring a new kind of seriousness of purpose to comics, blurring what's left of the boundaries between the highbrow and the lowbrow? Readings and materials for the course range from the nineteenth century to the present, and include novels, short stories, essays, older and newer comics, and some older and newer films. Expectations include diligent reading, active participation, occasional discussion leading, and two papers.

Readings

  • Burroughs, Edgar R. Tarzan of the Apes . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780199542888.
    Listed reading
  • Rosenberg, Yudl. The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780300143201.
    Listed reading
  • Chabon, Michael. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay . New York, NY: Picador, 2001. ISBN: 9780312282998.
    Listed reading
  • Schulz, Charles M. The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 . Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics, 2004. ISBN: 9781560975892.
    Listed reading
  • Clowes, Daniel. Ghost World . Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics, 2001. ISBN: 9781560974277.
    Listed reading
  • Sturm, James. James Sturm’s America: God, Gold, and Golems . Montreal, Canada: Drawn and Quarterly, 2007. ISBN: 9781897299050.
    Listed reading
  • Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis . New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780375714832.
    Listed reading
  • Friedrich, Nietzsche. A Nietzsche Reader . New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1978, pp. 232-248. ISBN: 9780140443295.
    Listed reading
  • Siegel, J., and J. Shuster. “The Reign of the Super-Man.” Science Fiction: The Vanguard of Future Civilization 1, no. 3 (January 1933): 1-8.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Superman Weeklies , 1939.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Action Comics.” In The Superman Chronicles. Vol. I. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2006, pp. 3-30.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Superman.” In Superman in the Forties . New York, NY: DC Comics, 2005, pp. 195-196. ISBN: 9781401204570.
    Listed reading
  • Lee, S., and J. Kirby. “The Fantastic Four.” In Origins of Marvel Comics . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1974, pp. 20-44.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “The Incredible Hulk.” In Origins of Marvel Comics . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1962, pp. 80-103.
    Listed reading
  • Siegel, J., and J. Shuster. “How Superman Would End the War.” Look Magazine , February 27, 1940.
    Listed reading
  • Marston, W. M., and H. G. Peter. “Wonder Woman.” DC Comics , no. 1 (1942): 54-66.
    Listed reading
  • Wertham, F. Excerpt from Seduction of the Innocent .
    Listed reading
  • Simon, J., and J. Kirby. “Meet Captain America.” Marvel Masterworks , no. 1 (1941): 1-8.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Captain America and the Riddle of the Red Skull.” Marvel Masterworks , no. 1 (2005): 37-49.
    Listed reading
Fall 2004 · Popular Narrative: Masterminds

Topics

  • Introduction - Welcome Aboard
  • Marlowe, Christopher. Dr. Faustus.
  • First journal due
  • Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.
  • Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark,” and “Rappacini’s Daughter.”
  • Journal due
  • Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet.
  • An open discussion of modern “Sherlockery.” Take the time to watch an episode of any of the current “detective shows” - especially the “scientific” shows like the assorted versions of “CSI” or “Crossing Jordan.” More traditional “procedurals” like “NYPD Blue” or “Law and Order” will serve just fine, though. No matter which one.
  • Hillerman, Tony. Sacred Clowns.
  • LeCarre, John. The Tailor of Panama.
  • Brecht, Bertolt. Galileo.
  • Banville, John. Kepler.
  • Frayn, Michael. Copenhagen.
  • We’ll do some organizing - your task this week will be to seek out and interview an MIT grad student about the “pursuit of mastery.” If you’re desperate to have something to read, there is a good book about the Whitehead: Natalie Angier, Natural Obsessions, and a more recent autobiography, Pepper White’s The Idea Factory.
  • Journal Assignment: Summarize your findings about the life of MIT grad students.
  • Discussion of the results of your research on grad students.
  • Final presentations due

Readings

Prerequisites & course information

Same subject as CMS.320[J] Subject meets with CMS.920 Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Spring) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-H Can be repeated for credit.

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