Interested in popular culture? Want a sample of my writing? I have uploaded several papers from my American Studies classes at UVA and numerous articles from PopSense Media below.
American Studies:
Community and the Culture Industry
The final product of my independent study during my 4th-year, I use extensive research on the Frankfurt School scholars' concept of the Culture Industry and pick apart the contemporary NBC sitcom Community. The paper illustrates the complex effects that popular culture has on our modern-day society and displays how Community critiques and enforces these effects. Length: 15 pages. Download PDF.
The Civil Misinterpretation of Popular Culture
The first paper from my America's Greatest Hits class, I
explain how Mark Twain used The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to address the futility of popular culture,
the danger of its impact on the society that consumes it, and Huck’s eventual
rejection of it altogether. Length: 7 pages. Download PDF.
Looney Tunes: Slaves to Popular Culture
The second paper from my America's Greatest Hits class, I
show how the Looney Tune characters as popular icons are completely
malleable and subject to the whim of whatever the public want and need them to
be and have been for several decades. Length: 7 pages. Download PDF.
Dear Michael Jackson: A Letter on Cultural Radicalism
The final paper from my America's Greatest Hits class, I compose a hypothetical letter from James Cameron to Michael Jackson. This letter primarily focuses on the cultural impact of Jackson's music video Black or White, but draws upon the ideas discussed in my previous papers on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Looney Tunes to conclude that Jackson, like Bugs Bunny, is a conformable servant to American popular culture and Black or White is his Huck-like attempt to separate himself from it. Length: 10 pages. Download PDF.
PopSense Media:
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The Hamburger: A Salute to American Culture
*Also published in 2009 Spring Edition of The Collegiate Scholar Aladdin: The How-To Film on Being a Good Wingman Pokémon Life Lessons: The Parable of the Magikarp Facebook: Trendy Fad or Factor of the Future? Forgetting Sarah Marshall: A Movie to Remember TV You Might Want To See: Reaper Hello America, WHO Are You? The Dame's Dude Emails: Utilizing the Information Age Making Learning Fun with AAC: How Gas Prices Affect Our Lives Racism: America's Proverbial Hydra The Unusuals Pilot Review |