10119 2:30p-3:45p TR FR C238 Wennerstrom

Feelings are literally EVERYWHERE in contemporary pop culture. But what do they look like and how do we interpret them? While we constantly read other people's emotions whenever we listen to music, watch movies, or look at pictures in magazines--we rarely stop to ask how we understand concepts such as "happiness" or "sadness" in the first place. Are feelings always "pure" expressions of internal states, or can they be artificial or performed? Do we turn off our emotions to cope with cinematic violence? If so, how do we become desensitized? Are sentiments always individual and private, or can they be social and political? Who decides? And finally, what strategies do artists, directors, advertisers, photographers and producers use to capture or display the complexities of inner life? These are just a few of the questions we will address in this class. Seeking to re-contextualize contemporary representations of feelings, both historically and culturally, we will think analytically and imaginatively about how and why we feel in the ways we do. Although emotional displays—of affection, of anger, of bliss— parade around like common sense in popular media, a careful consideration of how advertisements, fashion, song lyrics, music videos, and film create, manipulate, elevate, police, and custom design feelings will show just how scripted "spontaneous" responses can be. This course offers a nuanced approach to reevaluating the emotional aesthetics prevalent in popular culture by rethinking—on a fundamental level—how we express and communicate internal psychological states to the outside world. We will ask to what extent our individual feelings are part of larger social dramas, political realities, and discourses about sentiment.