ENG 4615 - Fall 2025 - Browdy

This course tasks students to use rhetorical theory to engage, interpret, and create media texts. The underlying theme of this course, and the practice that will centralize our discussion this semester, is the ‘remix.’ The terminology of remix can be found across various contexts, but we will focus on the ‘remix’ as it exists within pop culture including literature, music, film, and television. We will spend the first few weeks of the course considering the meaning of ‘remix,’ interrogating the word as a point of rhetorical inquiry. Then, we will develop our own collective theory of ‘remix’ which then may inform future analyses of others’ remixes. For example, we may begin with the artform of ‘the REE-MIX!” in hip-hop and identify key characteristics and functions of original songs versus their updated (and often up-tempo) versions. Or we may consider how adaptations of stories into films and other media alters the meanings and audiences of these texts (e.g., The Little Mermaid, The Color Purple, The Lion King). As a final project, students will have an opportunity to create their own remix of a primary text using whatever genre and/or media of their choosing. The purpose of this course is to consider the rhetorical purpose and functions of remixes, while also practicing the art of composing creative and ethical adaptations of original works.