General course information

Required Reading

• Auden, W. H. “Satire.” 1952. Satire: Modern Essays in Criticism, ed. Ronald Paulson, Prentice-Hall, 1971, pp. 202-04.
• Elliott, Robert C. “The Satirist and Society.” ELH, vol. 21, no. 3, 1954, pp. 237-47.
• Feinberg, Leonard. “Effects” and “Limitations.” Introduction to Satire, Iowa State University Press, 1967, pp. 253-72.
• Frye, Northrop. “The Mythos of Winter: Irony and Satire.” Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays, Princeton University Press, 1957, pp. 223-39.
• Frye, Northrop. “The Nature of Satire.” University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 1, 1944, pp. 75-89.
• Kernan, Alvin P. “A Theory of Satire.” 1959. Satire: Modern Essays in Criticism, ed. Ronald Paulson, Prentice-Hall, 1971, pp. 249-77.
• Paulson, Ronald. “Rhetoric and Representation.” The Fictions of Satire, Johns Hopkins Press, 1967, pp. 3-31.
• Sturm, Damion. “‘Omigod, It’s Russell Crow!’: South Park’s Assault on Celebrity.” Taking South Park Seriously, ed. Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, State University of New York Press, 2008, pp. 209-25.

Required Viewing

• Consult the lecture schedule or the list of episodes.

Course Expectations or Outputs

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. identify and explain conflicting definitions of “popular.”
2. analyze the ways in which popular culture texts and practices reinforce or challenge the circuit of production and consumption that characterizes mass culture.
3. apply different theoretical approaches to the analysis of popular culture texts and practices in both class discussion and writing.
4. construct and sustain analytical arguments in clear, coherent prose and proper essay format.
5. enrich analytical arguments about primary texts through the judicious use of secondary sources.

Course Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course will demonstrate:

1. a detailed knowledge of approaches to the study of popular culture.
2. an ability to offer theoretically and historically informed interpretation of texts.
3. an ability to compare the merits of different critical and theoretical approaches.
4. an ability to gather, review, and assess secondary sources appropriate to the topic.
5. an ability to communicate logical, analytical arguments in clear, correct, and persuasive prose.

Lectures and preparation

Note that the content of the lectures is meant to stimulate your own thinking: the lecturer’s thoughts about a work do not represent the only way to think about that work. You should develop your own opinions and theories and learn how to express and defend them. You should prepare for the lectures by watching the episodes and reading the assigned material (before the lecture), spending some time thinking about the material, and preparing insights and analyses that you would like to share during class time.

Participation

You are expected to participate in class in an informed manner. At the very least, you are expected to come to class regularly, having read all assigned reading and viewed all assigned episodes. You are expected to participate in class discussions. Keep in mind that participating in class is usually a highly rewarding experience, greatly enhancing your ability to understand the course material and helping ensure your success in the course. Everyone is expected to be courteous and professional at all times in class.

Essay submission and lateness

Essays must be submitted in paper; if an essay is only submitted electronically, it will be read and graded, but with no feedback. The first assignment is due before the start of the class on which we begin talking about the episode you have selected for the assignment or March 4, whichever is earlier. Late assignments will only be accepted for episodes not yet covered in class and will be penalized 2%/day (and will not be accepted after the start of class on which we begin talking about those episodes). The term essay is due in class on March 25. All students are welcome to a one-week extension on the term essay assignment. There will be a penalty of 2%/day (including weekend and public holiday days) after the one-week extension, to a maximum of 20%. Any assignment that is more than ten days late will be graded with no feedback. No assignment will be accepted after the start of the final exam.