Final Exam

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English 2160: Studies in Popular Culture
Final Exam
Choose 2 of the following questions and answer in essay form (roughly 500-700 words). Remember that I am trying to capture what you guys came up with in class in the broadest parameters possible. If the questions seem like not quite what we talked about, it is because I attempted to make them bigger, and you should feel free to address them in your own terms, as long as your terms fall under the same general idea. Also, keep in mind that this is where you get to showcase both what you know (in terms of the “legitimated” knowledge we have consumed (produced?) this semester as well as what you think about this knowledge. That is, show me not just what you read and can regurgitate but also, and more importantly, how all of that changes the way you consume popular culture.
Open book in-class exam (December 10, 10:15), per democratic choice, though please note that you can do as much preparation in advance as you want to.
1. Using at least three texts from our syllabus, discuss the functions of subculture. Think of “function” here as both how subculture operates on its own terms as well as how it operates in terms of the larger culture to which it belongs.
2. We have spent quite a bit of time discussing the feedback loop that operates between the culture industry, the cultural product, and the consumer. That is, the consumer isn’t quite the end of the line here. Using at least three texts from our syllabus, discuss different perspectives on the role of the consumer in popular culture (think broadly here; you can pull from any number of sources that you might not think of at first).
3. Walter Benjamin argued in the 1930s that the era of mechanical reproduction was going to revolutionize art (and he meant revolution in several senses here). Looking at the picture now, how right was Benjamin? What might he have to say about the globalization of culture via the internet and other forms of “new media”? Draw on Benjamin and two other texts from our syllabus (or, alternatively, use Benjamin as a touchstone only and draw on three others) to answer this question.
4. Identity politics took up a substantive portion of our syllabus. Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Race, Ethnicity, National Affiliation: All of these categories by which we might identify ourselves as belonging to a particular group have been problematized, questioned, or at least explored by some of our readings this semester. Using at least three texts from our syllabus, discuss how any of these “identities” inform, influence, determine or limit our reception of a cultural product or popular culture in general. For this, you can choose to focus on one of those categories, or you can mix and match. This question is particularly broad, so remember to fine tune it in your own terms.
5. Many of the texts we read this semester were preoccupied with the high culture/low culture distinction or the increasing lack thereof. Discuss this problem (if, indeed, you think of it as a problem) using at least three texts from our syllabus. You might consider exploring why we bother studying pop culture in an academic setting in the first place. Is there value in it, and if so, can you explain that value?

I know this is really last minute, but is the exam open notes too?

Same here... Please say we can use open notes...
I'm going to pray right now that you allow it