Hyper/Pop

Catalog description

Hyperpop: a meme, a subculture, a Spotify playlist, a mashup of disparate sounds, a sense of street style, a glitch, a microgenre and an anti-genre noted for its brashness, intensity, and maximalist take on pop. This first year seminar will provide an introduction to the study of contemporary popular culture through the lens of hyper/pop as a queer and trans aesthetics of intensity, maximalism and excess. Readings, discussions and screenings will engage theories of gender, punk, fashion, the glitch, postmodernism, remixing and hacking, and students will engage with examples of hyper/pop from music, contemporary art, fashion, film and television. Overall, this course investigates the aesthetics of a “hyper” popular culture, with a particular focus on queer and trans artists pushing the limits of form.