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Titel
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From Paranoia to Nostalgia: The 1980s in Politics
In this course, "From Paranoia to Nostalgia: The 1980s in Politics and Popular Culture," we explore the 1980s as an era of crises and great contrasts. We discuss campaign ads and political speeches by the British and American leaders, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, watch documentaries about the era and discuss different parts of popular culture (music, films, stand-up specials and TV series) that were made during the 1980s or that, in some way, depict the 1980s (either speculatively or in hindsight). The course deals with the 1980s as an interesting cultural period in the UK and America, also seen in relation to earlier parts of American history (cf. the course on The Vietnam War and the course on existentialism in British and American fiction, during which we discussed beat literature, New Hollywood movies and the counter-culture movement of the 1960s and the 1970s), but it also works as a repetition course, through which we reacquaint ourselves with traditional literary genres and formulas (e.g. horror, sci-fi, dystopian fiction and comedy), central periods in literary history (i.e. postmodernism) and how to analyze different types of texts (including poetry, prose, audiovisual fiction, speeches and other types of non-fiction).
Central terms:
- paranoia
- The Cold War: proxy wars, espionage, the Domino Theory, "sleepers"
- identity, individuality and narcissism
- personas and performance
- excess and decadence
- crisis, poverty and hopelessness
- domestic issues vs. foreign policy (cf. Reagan)
- look/stylization
- postmodernism and eclecticism
- yuppies
- consumerism and materialism
- escapism
- conservatism
- capitalism vs. communism
- punk, different subcultures
- technology
- nostalgia
In Danish:
I dette forløb beskæftiger vi os med 1980'erne, i form af politiske taler, stand-up shows, film og populærmusikalske sange fra årtiet og (post)moderne tekster, tv-serier og dokumentarfilm, som skildrer æraen med et bagudskudende (nostalgisk og/eller kritisk-satirisk) blik.
Kernestof:
- Margaret Thatcher, "The Lady's Not Turning"/"The Reason Why", Brighton, October 10 (1980)
- Ronald Reagan, "Evil Empire Speech" (1983)
- Ronald Reagan, "State of the Union Address" (February 6, 1985)
- Bret Easton Ellis, uddrag fra "American Psycho" (1991); "End of the 1980s"; dette går tilbage til postmodernismeforløbet og griber samtidig tilbage til horrorforløbet
- Første kapitel fra George Orwells "1984" (1949); dette griber tilbage til forløbet om science fiction og dystopisk fiktion; diskuteres i sammenhæng med en Apple/Microsoft-reklame fra december 1983 ("1984", instrueret af Ridley Scott)
- Sylvester Stallone, "Rocky IV" (1985); fiktionsfilm
Supplerende stof:
- Sange brugt ifm. studiegruppeprojekt: Pink Floyd, "The Post War Dream" (1983), Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the U.S.A." (1984), Run DMC, "It's Like That" (1983), Gwen Guthrie, "Ain't Nothing Going on But the Rent" (1986), Madonna, "Material Girl" (1984), Pet Shop Boys, "Hit Music" (1987), The Smiths, "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (1986), Huey Lewis and the News, "Hip to Be Square" (1986), The Blow Monkeys, "The Day After You" (1987) and NWA, “Fuck the Police” (1988)
- Forskellige valgvideoer (campaign ads) fra 1980'erne: Ronald Reagan ("Peace", "Bear", "Reaganomics"), George Bush Sr. ("Family Man", "Willie Horton").
- Forskellige tv-serieafsnit, brugt til opsamlingsprojekt. Eleverne vælger mellem pilotafsnittene til: "Chernobyl", "The Americans", "Halt and Catch Fire", "Show Me a Hero", "Stranger Things" og "It's a Sin". Disse analyseres ift. kulturhistorien, litteraturhistorien, moderne tv-serier som fænomen og forskellige genrer samt litterære formler. Tv-serierne relateres til centrale forhold i 1980'erne, hvor hver gruppe inddrager relevante artikler om det pågældende aspekt/område (fx The Cold War og "sleeper"-fænomenet, computerteknologiens og tech-industriens fremvækst, fattigdom/housing-problemer i Yonkers og andre steder samt spørgsmål vedrørende seksualitet og AIDS-epidemien). På den måde syntetiserer afrundingprojektet en del af de elementer og hovedspor, som vi har beskæftiget os med siden 1.g.
- Eddie Murphy, "Raw", stand-up special (1987; instrueret af Robert Townsend)
- Eddie Tafoya, Chapter 1 ("I Want a Read Literature Class") from "The Legacy of the Wisecrack: Stand-Up Comedy as the Great American Literary Form" (Brown Walker Press, 2009, pp. 19-39. I denne kontekst diskuterede vi stand-up-komikken som genre og forskellige humorteorier.
- Robert Mankoff, "Making Sense of Humor", Big Think, September 25, 2009.
- ABC, "The Century: America's Time - 1981-1989: A New World" (dokumentarindslag om årtiet)
- PBS, "Reagan: Part I" (1998), written by Adriana Bosch & Austin Hoyt.
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