7:15P-8:30P MW (30) 3 cr

TOPIC: AMERICAN YOUTH CULTURE IN THE 1950S

This course will focus on literary, cinematic, journalistic, and
scholarly treatments of American youth culture in a crucial
decade of this century, the 1950s.  We will use a number of books
and articles for background information, including David
Halberstam's THE FIFTIES, and we will read some fiction,
non-fiction, and poetry of the time, including Jack Kerouac's ON
THE ROAD, Allen Ginsberg's HOWL, Norman Mailer's THE NEGRO AS
WHITE HIPSTER, Philip Roth's GOODBYE COLUMBUS, and J.D.
Salinger's CATCHER IN THE RYE.  In addition, we will view a
number of films on the various sub-topics in the course: THE WILD
ONE, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, and EAST OF EDEN on teen rebellion;
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, DEAD POETS SOCIETY, WHERE THE BOYS ARE, and
QUIZ SHOW on education; ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, HELP!, and LONELY
BOY on music; SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS and THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH on
sexual repression; INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, MANCHURIAN
CANDIDATE, and DR. STRANGELOVE on politics and the Cold War; and
episodes of the TV shows, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, FATHER KNOWS BEST,
and THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE & HARRIET on growing up in suburbia.=20
Our on-going concerns will be: what is the definition and
perception of American youth culture that began in the 1950s and
continues to the present day; how were young people portrayed in
literary and visual works of the time and subsequently, and how
accurate were these portrayals; and what are some of the
cultural, economic, social, and political reasons for these
portrayals?  In addition, we will inquire into the impact that
the Beat Generation writers had on youth culture in the 1950s and
1960s, as well as the revival of interest in the Beats in the
1990s.=20
Students in the course will be expected to do: a class
presentation; a number of quizzes and short papers; and ONE of
the following major projects: (A) a critical research paper on
any topic in or connected to the course; OR (B) a creative
project, e.g. a short story or a film script or a personal essay
on any topic prompted by the course.; OR (C) a take-home final
exam equal in difficulty to (A) and (B).=20

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AN ENGLISH OR FILM MAJOR TO TAKE THIS
CLASS.