22/1 – Pop vs. Culture

Module Leader:
Szentpály Dalma Tímea
Status:
Confirmed
Year/Term:
2022-2023 Nyár
Level:
Elmélyülés 1
Division:
Művészetek és Bölcsészettudományok
Credit:
8

Entertainment is a business. The global entertainment market reached 99.7 billion in 2021. But should we view entertainment as art? And should art be entertaining?

Who decides what is high culture, and what is popular culture? Does a cultural product have less value because of its medium?

Consider this; we are living in the so-called “Golden Age of Television,” such well-known, and critically acclaimed auteurs of film-making as David Fincher, Jane Campion, or Spike Lee are now directing to a platform that they never would have considered a decade ago. In the 80’s and 90’s movies could be art, television was considered popular culture, and thus less worthy of artistic expression by default. Now, we watch television on our phones, or laptops and making streaming services extremely rich.

Could something be high culture if it is popular? Does popularity make a cultural product worthy of critical attention?

Take the example of the poet: Rupi Kaur. Many consider her the new face of literature. However, her poems first appeared on Instagram. Now, she has more than 4 million followers, and the printed copies of her volumes of poetry have been translated into 25 languages.

The aim of this module is to give students the necessary tools to explore similar issues and be able to analyze cultural texts regardless of their medium in a wider sociological, aesthetic, and theoretical context. With the assistance of some of the oldest tropes of storytelling, we will be exploring essential questions of Film and Media Studies, Social Anthropology, Literary Criticism, and Gender Studies.

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