Entertaining Social Change
AMST 315
Spring 2019 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 309, FGSS 315 |
| Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory |
Our seminar advances critical entertainment studies. The fundamental question we will bring to all texts is: how has the systemic critique of social contradictions been popularized in modern times? We will consider the diverse strategies that progressive songwriters/performers, radical historians (working with cartoonists), and mainly moviemakers have developed to entertain Americans--teach, fascinate, persuade, provoke, and move them through laughter, tears, and not least of all ideas--so that Americans will be more inclined to entertain social critique that inspires social change. We will explore the popularizing (and selling) of social critique in several genres: art (Barbara Kruger); graphic history (Howard Zinn, Paul Buhle); songs/song lyrics of protest singers (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs); folk-rockstars such as Jackson Browne, Ani DiFranco, Father John Misty; the political development of hip-hop (Gil Scott-Heron, NWA); politically edgy comedy (Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert); and movies (Spike Lee's MALCOLM X and WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, EL NORTE, SMOKE SIGNALS, NETWORK, WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, MATEWAN, WALL STREET, THE BIG SHORT). |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ENGL)(FGSS)(FILM-MN)(HRAD-MN) |
Major Readings:
Movies include:
NO, dir. Pablo Larraín (2012)
NETWORK, dir. Sidney Lumet (1976)
BLUE COLLAR, dir. Paul Schrader (1978)
FALLING DOWN, dir. Joel Schumacher (1993)
UP IN THE AIR, dir. Jason Reitman (2009)
MATEWAN, dir. John Sayles (1987)
WALL STREET, dir. Oliver Stone (1987)
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, dir. Martin Scorses (2013)
THE BIG SHORT, dir. Adam McKay (2015)
MALCOLM X, dir. Spike Lee (1992)
Other texts (in some cases including movies related to them) include (others TBA):
Barbara Kruger, REMOTE CONTROL: POWER, CULTURE, AND THE WORLD OF APPEARANCES (1994), selected artwork
Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, and Paul Buhle, A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF AMERICAN EMPIRE (2008) (graphic history)
Paul Buhle and David Berger, BOHEMIANS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY (2014)
LENNY dir. Bob Fosse (1974), selections from Lenny Bruce's writings
Woody Guthrie, BOUND FOR GLORY (1943), Guthrie lyrics plus other protest song lyrics
CSNY DÉJÀ VU, dir. Bernard Shakey [Neil Young] (2008), CSNY lyrics, Jackson Browne lyrics, Ani DiFranco lyrics, Father John Misty lyrics
WHO IS GIL SCOTT-HERON? dir. Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (2015), Scott-Heron lyrics
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, dir. F. Gary Gray (2015), NWA lyrics
Malcolm X, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X (1965)
Robert W. McChesney, BLOWING THE ROOF OFF THE 21st CENTURY: MEDIA, POLITICS, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR POST-CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY (2014)
Juliet B. Schor, THE OVERWORKED AMERICAN: THE UNEXPECTED DECLINE OF LEISURE (1991)
Stephen Greenhouse, THE BIG SQUEEZE: TOUGH TIMES FOR THE AMERICAN WORKER (2008)
Andrew Ross, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT: LIFE AND LABOR IN PRECARIOUS TIMES (2009)
Ellen Meiksins Wood, "The Separation of the Economic and the Political in Capitalism," NEW LEFT REVIEW 127 (May-June 1981): 61-95
Ellen Meiksins Wood, DEMOCRACY AGAINST CAPITALISM: RENEWING HISTORICAL MATERIALISM (1995)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Each student will write a brief "book": title page, contents page, 2-page introduction, chapter 1 (first 7-page essay), chapter 2 (second 7-page essay), chapter 3 (third 7-page essay), 2 page conclusion. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Each student will team up with another student a couple of times during the term to raise questions about the texts we are unpacking together.
Most films will be streamed, but we may be viewing some that cannot be streamed on Sundays. |
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