Unit
One Post
Hello, my fellow ENGL 372
classmates. Welcome to my Unit One blog post! For this post, I have decided to
write about the response paper that I wrote this week for class. I decided to
choose prompt two for the first response paper because it required me to
reflect upon a paper that I wrote during a past semester here at Shepherd
University. Since one of my goals as a writer is to improve my writing skills,
I thought that I could learn from my previous mistakes in syntax, proofreading,
and precision. Even though I wrote this paper a few years back, I just shook my
head and thought “what was I thinking when I wrote that?” The cringe factor is
real during the self-reflection process! If anyone else in this class choose
prompt two for their first response paper, I would love to hear about your
experience. What does the engagement with the works of others reveal about you
as a writer and a person?
Anyway, I also realized
that I write a lot about recurring themes in stories (which I referred to as
patterns), and popular culture. The title of my response paper is “How I
Learned to Stop Worrying (Almost?) and Love the Patterns of Others and Pop
Culture in My English Essays.” The title is inspired by the classic 1964
Stanley Kubrick film “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
Love the Bomb.” If you haven’t seen it, I recommend checking it out. Here is a link
to a trailer for the film below:
In my response paper, I
wrote about how the study of popular culture isn’t always esteemed in academia.
Some academics think that popular culture is the intellectual equivalent to
cotton candy. Like cotton candy, it is tasty but devoid of anything that could
be considered nourishing. I personally disagree with this stance. I believe
that the study of popular culture in academic and educational circles could be
valuable to students. I think it could be valuable because you can learn about
the greater societal and historical contexts within it. Heck, we can look at
this very English class as a successful example of this. Even though we have read
highly enjoyable writings by funny women in this class, the material still
addressed important issues like sexism and discrimination. We have learned some
history in the class too. For instance, Fanny Fern was a popular humorist, but
she still wrote about complex subjects like class, grief, feminism, and
politics during the 19th century. I didn’t know anything about Fern
before this class, and I’m glad I do know now. If you are interested in reading
the role of popular culture in academia, here are two links from the peer
reviewed journals, Reading Horizons and
the Penn State University Press. The Reading Horizons article is about pop
culture in pedagogy. The Penn State
University Press is about teaching the works of Geoffrey Chaucer alongside
pop culture. Here are the links below:
Regarding pop culture in
academia, have any of you written an interesting paper or created a project
that involved a pop culture subject? What was it about? I would love to hear
about it in the comments section. Then again, perhaps you disagree with me on
my pro pop culture in academia stance. I’m open to hearing your thoughts on
that. Let’s get this conversation rolling this week!
I agree that self-reflection over past papers is definitely cringe-worth. I considered writing for prompt two, and I'm sure if I had, I would have had a similar experience.
ReplyDeleteAs for pop culture, yes, I think it's very important in academia! I haven't studied it myself, but there's something really fascinating to me about what people consider good and what gains popular attention, versus what's considered worthy of being called "serious" art and literature. At this point in our culture, something that's just popular isn't necessarily deemed good or interesting in the academic field. There are definitely some types of books and shows that I would call "trashy," but I think it's still worth identifying why we like things like that, even if it is trashy.
Hi Alexandra! I love the Kermit gif. It is hilarious and accurate of what I probably look like on a daily basis. As far as your post goes, I love it and think it is a great point. I agree that we can love, use, and appreciate the works of that which is not considered pop culture; however, I also agree that what we consider pop culture is just as important when understanding thew world we live in. One can analyze Shakespeare and apply it to our day, but we can also read something that was recently written and apply it to our day just as appropriately, if not more. It makes us as writers versatile, intelligent, and capable of bringing important points and discussions to the drawing board.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that popular culture is anything but cotton candy. Popular culture is an artificial product created on the back of ideas extensively analyzed and worked into form to create the possibility of cotton candy. The machine that creates cotton candy is separate from the delicious treat that melts on your tongue. Tina Fey’s book writing is beyond simple humor. There are large discussions taking place in her writing but that doesn’t mean that her show 30 rock is anything but cotton candy. What can i learn from watching every episode of 30 rock? I’d venture to say not as much as I learned from reading two pages of Bossypants. One is academic and the other is fluffy nonsense meant to amuse and entertain. I’m a long time fan of 30 rock but that doesn’t mean i don’t see it for what it is, cotton candy. Maybe this is short sided but hey i enjoy creating an argument. Maybe there is much to gain from an exploration of Tracy jordan’s Charector but i think any satirical argument would have be forced and detached to make much of an academic point.
ReplyDeleteI chose this prompt too for my response paper. Whenever I read over my own work, sometimes I am surprised at some of the things I have written. Some good, some bad. I agree with you on the points you have made. When you zoom in on the big picture, you are able to see the underlying message of the text. While we are reading funny pieces of literature, the underlying message of them is effects of sexism and stereotypes on women.
ReplyDeleteI love Dr. Strangelove! I could not agree more with including certain elements of pop culture into the realm of academia. A college level class based on a show like Parks and Rec. or even Family Guy would not only be wildly popular, but I believe a wide range of issues could be touched on. I highly recommend "30 Rock and Philosophy" by William Irwin. Lots of fun to read and I learned a little about formal philosophy, a field that I knew almost nothing about.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion about pop culture, which I firmly believe is worthy of academic study AND great admiration/respect. In other words, GOOD pop culture exists (and even the bad stuff is worthy of exploration sometimes). Also worth keeping in mind: the concept of "pop culture" itself is rather new...
ReplyDelete