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Lecturer(s)
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Course content
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Key themes: 1) "Kafka Goes to the Movies": Polyphony of culture of 1900s and 1910s. From the avant garde concepts of non-figurative art for the elite up to the mass impact of film production. Cubism, abstract painting, the concepts of a nation and ethnicity/race (Griffith: The Birth of the Nation; Mitteleuropa; O. Spengler), modernism as a claim of the mood of crisis of the world, the grotesque and its shift towards the serious analysis of the crisis (Ch. Chaplin), the horror as a genre generating a mood of life (Fantomas, Nosferatu, Kabinet dr. Caligariho), jazz and blues as new forms of music, the substitution of a fragments on the site of former complexity. 2) Metropolis: The world as an artificial perfect systém. Utopian and dystopian concepts of the world (S. Ejzenstein and early Soviet film, F. Lang: Metropolis), detective story as a story of law and order triumphing over crime and chaos (A. C. Doyle, A. Christie, R. Chandler), early engaged and propaganda art (Soviet Communism and the birth of Nazism). 3) Mickey Mouse, Donald the Duck, Popeye, Goofy; Snow White, Pinnocchio, Fantasia, Bambi etc.: The impact of an animated non-human hero of 1930s. The world of Walt Disney as the world of ideal cultural capital. 4) Superman, Captain Marvel, Batman, Captain America etc.: The concept of a superman in 1930s - 1950s. The individual and his/her impact of the world around. From the internalized soul up to the exteriorized values. The compariosn of the superheroes from 1970s and 1980s (Rambo, Rocky, Conan, Terminator trilogie, Indiana Jones tetralogie). 5) Western as a productive genre of the decade of a "nuclear family": 1950s (The Gunfighter, The Searchers, The Alamo, The Magnificent Seven). Later modifications and metamorphoses of the genre and theme of the conquer of the "wild West". Coinciding cultural products (country music). 6) - 7) Rock'n'roll and its transformations through the 1960s. The music based on authenticity assumption. The Beatles and other icons of the 1960s as agents of the radical paradigm change of popular culture history. 8) - 9) James Bond: From Dr No up to Quantum of Solace as a journey of a stable hero prototype in an era lacking stability. The semiotic implications of the transformations of the book and film Bond series. The hero as a commercial product. Product placement and other innovative attempts across half of a century. 10) - 11) Star Wars: The birth of the new modern myth and the elimination of "high-brow" and "low-brow" distinction. 12) From sci-fi up to fantasy: The transformations of the genre rules and features of the possible world construction and its impacts upon the perception of the fictional world (2001: Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Alien vs. Batman films, Shreck, Hellboy etc.). 13) J. K. Rowling, Paulo Coelho, Dan Brown and other celebrities of our days. Interactive relations of the structure of a work of art and marketing strategies.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Monologic Lecture(Interpretation, Training), Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook)
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Learning outcomes
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The aim of the course is to acquaint students with the development of the concept of popular culture, its selected forms, possibilities analysis, and the relationship of popular texts on the issue of fandom, media stars and celebrities, film and TV genre etc. In the seminar, students develop their own analysis or essay focused on the relevant due to the substance and moving the work to be presented in the discussion group. The aim of this course is to enhance students' critical thinking about the nature of contemporary culture and encourage them as well as their reflection of cultural experiences and practices.
Students acquire basic knowledge about the transformation of definitions of popular culture (from contempt to respect of academic field), acquire a set of key terms and analytical approaches (narratology, genre analysis etc.). They can evaluate the current popular culture production in a broader social context, can consider the role of recipient and audience practices related to popular culture texts.
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Prerequisites
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No prerequsites.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Written exam, Essay
Student's ability to use and apply relevant secondary literature. The grading is based on an essay interpreting a chosen entity of popular culture of the era covered in this semester (1500 words approximately). Such an essay must meet the criteria of scholarly writing, e. g. all argumentation should be based on secondary literature and it should comply with the standards of academic writing.
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Recommended literature
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Berger, A. A. Popular Culture Genres. Newbury Park: Sage 1992.
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BETTS, Raymond F. A History of Popular Culture: More of Everything, Faster and Brighter. New York, 2004..
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BÍLEK, P. (ed.). James Bond a major Zeman: Ideologizující vzorce vyprávění. Příbram, 2007..
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Bordwell, D., Thompsonová, K. Dějiny filmu. Praha, 2007..
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BROWNE, Ray B., ed. Profiles of Popular Culture: A Reader. Madison, 2005..
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DELAMATER, Jerome H.; PRIGOZY, Ruth, eds. Theory and Practice of Classic Detective Fiction. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1997..
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FISKE, J. Reading Popular Culture. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
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HORVÁTH, Tomáš. Tajomstvo a vražda: Model a dejiny detektívneho žánru. Bratislava, 2011..
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JENKINS III, H. Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching. In: Newcomb, H. (ed.) Television: The Critical View. New York: Oxford University Press 2000.
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McROBBIE, D. Postmodernism and Popular Culture. London: Routledge 1994.
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PETŘÍČEK, Miroslav. Majestát zákona. Raymond Chandler a pozdní dekonstrukce. Praha, 2000..
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PROPP, V. J. Morfologie pohádky a jiné studie. Praha: H&H, 1998..
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Ryan, M.L. Narrative across Media: The Languages of Storytelling (Frontiers of Narrative), University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2004..
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STRIANTI, D. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. London: Routledge, 1995.
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