LIT 5309 Summer 2021 Edwards

This LIT 5309 course examines theories of popular culture and media in the context of the emergence of mass culture and focuses on the evolution of media in the digital era. We will address popular music, television, film, and new media. We will also consider audience studies and fan culture. Our reading draws on media theory, media studies, screen studies, popular music studies, film and new media, popular culture studies, and digital humanities. The course will give you solid grounding in media theory and media studies and the chance to do more specialized research in the field. Within media studies, we will discuss topics including multi-platform storytelling, media convergence, serialized narratives on television, interactive digital videos and films, authenticity projections in popular music, documentary film, and new ideas of media in the digital era. Our focus will be on U.S. media, but we will consider questions of the global circulation of media.