Studies in Literature and Culture (385-0-20)
Topic
Material Girls: Excess, Gender, and Commercialism
Instructors
Johana Staza Godfrey
Meeting Info
Harris Hall L06: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
As cultural critic Ariana Grande once said, "I want it, I got it, I want it, I got it!" Some hundred years before, Karl Marx warned about consumerism and alienation: "Our products would be so many mirrors in which we saw reflected our essential nature." Taking the iconic makeover scene as its guiding trope, this course considers the preoccupation with gender, sex, and the performance of femininity that lies at the heart of modern consumer culture. How are racial and gender boundaries constructed and enforced through consumerism? Can one truly purchase empowerment? Are there, in fact, some ways in which consumerism offers key avenues for self-fashioning, and the subversion of heteronormative gender performance? While this course begins in 1725 with Eliza Haywood's Fantomina and a brief survey of antecedents, the majority of texts are literature, film, and pop culture ephemera from the 1990s through today. Texts include Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep, Bong Joon-ho's best picture winning Parasite, and Greta Gerwig's latest satire Barbie. Students will engage with Marxism, feminism, gender theory, and sociological thought to construct a modern pop canon of consumption. According to interest, students will also be expected to track a vlogger/influencer of their choice in a pop culture journal.
Teaching Method
Short lectures, seminar discussion, collaborative group exercises.
Evaluation Method
Participation, pop culture journals, final project.
Class Materials (Required)
Agnes Varda, Cleo from 5-7 (1961), Amy Heckerling, Clueless (1995), Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep (2005), Sakaya Murata, Convenience Store Woman (2016), Bong Joon-ho, Parasite (2019), Lorene Scafaria, Hustlers (2019), Channing Godfrey People, Miss Juneteenth (2020), and Greta Gerwig, Barbie (2023).
Texts will be available at: Prep (ISBN 9780812972351) and Convenience Store Woman (ISBN 9780802129628) at Norris, all others on Canvas.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area