If you think talking about Game of Thrones or Mad Men seems more like something to do with your friends than an assignment for class, think again. The Radio, Television + Film department offers courses dedicated to tackling subjects related to popular culture.
Mimi White is an RTVF professor who teaches “Nostalgia and Pop Culture.” The class looks mainly at films and TV to analyze the concept of nostalgia, showing and discussing works like American Graffiti, Pleasantville and Mad Men in class. “The way we understand nostalgia is in part a product of the work of popular culture,” White says. “I think pop culture is precisely the way to understand it.”
White describes her class as a theory course to some degree. Her lessons show that pop culture reveals the complexities of her topic.
“Nostalgia seems so straightforward, and it often seems so trivial ... but on the other hand, the things that are called nostalgia are actually very complicated,” White says. “How [the shows] are using nostalgia complicates things and adds layers, and there are theories [of nostalgia] that explain this.”
Theory isn’t the only method of pop culture-centered analysis; other classes examine commercial aspects. According to White, we influence pop culture as much as it influences us.
Brett Neveu, another RTVF professor, teaches “Fantasy/Horror/Supernatural.” While White’s course focuses on academia, Neveu gives an economic reason for why his class is relevant.
“There’s money in [these genres],” Neveu says. “They’re coming out of the closet.”
In order to understand the commercial appeal of certain subjects, Neveu’s class looks at how the narrative and artistic approaches to the fantasy, supernatural and horror genres have changed up to now. Neveu notes that these genres have crossed over from cult appeal to the mainstream—even still images from the original Dracula film persist to this day. He explains that this is indicative not only of the longevity of the genres, but also of the fanbase that surrounds them.
“This is a fanbase that is a persistent group that keeps desiring better stories and better characters and better filmmaking. Just look what’s on TV,” Neveu says. “This is what’s in the mainstream, and we have to train folks to understand what the medium is.”
What takes the class a step further is the level of engagement students show as they learn how to shape genres. RTVF sophomore Carlie Dobkin takes “Vampires in TV and Film.”
“Each week is assigned a topic, from the classic vampire to vampires that push boundaries of race, gender and sexuality, and to modern vampires with feelings, morality and sex appeal,” she says. “I can’t believe I can actually say that watching The Vampire Diaries is my homework.”
Dobkin says she enjoys the more studious aspects of the class. While there is a certain appeal in watching Ian Somerhalder smolder or Jon Hamm smoke cigarettes, Neveu explains that analysis is the draw to pop culture-based courses.
“We analyze how we can use images, story, sound and characters that draw an emotional reaction from an audience and take them to another place,” Neveu says.