This class will seek to explain and exemplify various theoretical approaches
to literature and culture by way of popular entertainment. Following the lead
of Slavoj Žižek, who published the essay collection, Everything You Ever
Wanted to Know about Lacan but Were Afraid to Ask Hitchcock, the class will
function as a thorough and rigorous analysis of some of the most perplexing
and pervasive issues in and ideological contradictions of our contemporary postmodern
world, examined through the lens of pop culture. The course will also clarify
some of the major theories currently influencing cultural criticism today, even
as we implement the tools of cultural critique throughout the semester. Each
theoretical approach will be paired with an example in pop culture: Narratology
through the X-Files; Psychoanalysis through Buffy, the Vampire Slayer; Postmodernism
through Bladerunner, the Matrix, and Brazil; and a final
wrap-up of all the theories through Fight Club (along with some Marxism).
PSYCHOANALYSIS
POSTMODERNISM
MARXISM
and REVIEW