The Poetics of Pop Culture

Undergraduate / Graduate

Pop culture is all around us, shaping conversations, informing collective consciousness, and influencing how social and political identities take form. From Taylor Swift and Donald Trump to viral memes about Squid Game and K-pop, pop culture feels pervasive, insistent, and self-evident. But what exactly is pop culture? Is it a core aspect of mainstream culture, a subculture, or something else entirely? How do media technologies drive its creation and circulation? What roles do commodification, fame, and identity play in its production? And who are its central figures-celebrities, influencers, politicians, idols, or even artificial intelligences? This course draws from cultural studies, science and technology studies (STS), and media studies to examine how pop culture takes shape at the intersection of media, language, and technology. Weekly sessions combine key theoretical frameworks with case studies spanning film, television, gaming, animation, literature, and more. By the end of the course, students will apply these tools to critically analyze a popular culture phenomenon of their choice.