Class Schedule

I would like to stress that the following syllabus is tentative; it represents my best estimation as to how the class will proceed. It is not written in stone; it may change as the quarter progresses.

NOTE: SOL page numbers are for THE FIFTH EDITION and not the Sixth.

Schedule of Readings

SOL refers to Signs of Life

WN refers to White Noise

ER refers to Electronic Reader

Be sure to have all the indicated readings completed before class. Readings are subject to change.

CONSUMPTION

Week 1

3/30 Introduction; Syllabus; Buy Books

4/1 SOL (pp 1-18), 'Introduction: Popular Signs?'; SOL (pp. 91-100) Hine, 'What's in a Package'; Practicing Semiotics

4/3 SOL (pp. 83-89) Norton, 'The Signs of Shopping'; SOL (pp. 101-8) Davis, 'Blue Jeans'

Week 2

4/6 'Excess: An Obituary' ER; Analyzing commercials; SOL (pp. 136-139) Frank 'Countercultural Consumerism' (if you have the Fifth Edition) or Frank 'Commodify Your Dissent' (if you have the Sixth Edition)

4/8 SOL (pp. 76-82) Shames 'The More Factor'; SOL (pp 119-29) Goewey,'Careful, You May Run Out of Planet'; Postmodernism slides

4/10 'Einstein?s Brain' ER; Film: The Corporation

Week 3

4/13 Peer Review; SOL (pp. 31-58) 'Writing about Popular Culture'

SIMULACRA AND CULTURAL STATIC

4/15 'Simulacra and Simulations' Excerpt ER (READ FIRST SEVEN PAGES); Essay #1 Due

4/17 WN Ch. 1-15; WN reading activity

Week 4

4/20 WN Ch. 16-21

4/22 WN Ch. 22-32

4/24 WN Ch. 32-40; 'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' Handouts website

GENDER AND THE FILMIC GAZE

Week 5

4/27 How to read film lecture; Film: Eyes Wide Shut; 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' ER; Optional: Check out the analysis of The Dark Knight in the course handouts section.

4/29 SOL (pp.458-464) Devor, 'Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes'; SOL (pp. 161-173) Craig, 'Men's Men and Women's Women';

5/1 Peer Review

Week 6

5/4 Film: Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Essay #2 Due

5/6 Film: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

5/8 Film: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Week 7

5/11 SOL (pp. 372-377) Sobchack, 'The Postmorbid Condition'; 'Machine as Messiah' ER

MANUFACTURING THE DIGITAL BODY

5/13 'Why Youth Heart Social Networks' ER; Facebook and MySpace analysis; Topic Proposal Essay #3 Due

5/15 'Why the Obama Brand is Working' ER; 'The Ecstasy of Communication' ER

DIGITAL ALLEGORY

Week 8

5/18 'Computer Games as Media Text?' ER; Optional: Play Tetris; Annotated Bibliography due for T2 Essay

5/20 Peer Review

5/22 'Virtual Gangstas, Coming to a Suburban House Near You' ER; Essay #3 Due

Week 9

5/25 MEMORIAL DAY

5/27 Read section of Gamer Theory on The Sims ER; Optional: Play Passage video game

5/29 Second Life in-class exploration

Week 10

6/1 Music Video analysis; SOL Mayer, 'The New Sexual Stone Age'; SOL Morgan, 'Sex, Lies, and Videos'

6/3 'Postscript on the Societies of Control' ER

6/5 Meta-cognitive; Class recap

Finals Week

Essay #4 Due exact date TBA