With the divide between mass culture and high art disappearing, popular culture has become a prolific field of study. In this seminar, we will consider the many facets and dimensions of pop culture, including its cultural history and the possibilities hidden within what is often assumed to be nothing more than entertainment.

Some of the topics we will address are popular culture’s reflection of discourse, its capability of criticizing or affirming the status quo, and the various modes of ideology within. We will cover various relevant pop culture representations: street art, film, comic books, fiction, music, paintings etc. and discuss their significance within the given frame of reference. We will also have a look at the international social impact of pop culture representations, their ability to critically comment on geo-political events, be it lyrics and stage performances of Childish Gambino or Taylor Swift or Banksy’s murals in destroyed Ukrainian cities.

Secondary texts will introduce a range of theoretical perspectives through which pop culture may be explored, analyzed, questioned, and understood. We will discuss the function of pop culture in the public sphere on both sides of the Atlantic, its representations in texts, images, and music and most importantly, the mutual influences between US-American and European pop culture.