Courses

The host of the daily radio show ​Popopop​ on the public radio ​France Inter​ routinely introduces his guests by asking them “what is pop culture?”/“qu’est ce que la culture pop?” The answers are at least as diverse as the guests’ cultural, social, and generational backgrounds. Keeping the complexity and variety of the possible answers to this question in mind, students in this class will be introduced to French pop culture or ​La culture pop française​ both in its specificity and in contrast to ​American pop culture​. In this French language class, critical thinking applied to mass media such as music, movies, ads, and newspapers, as well as literature ranging from ​les BD (comics and graphic novels) to ​les polars (detective fiction),​ ​and as well as to Social Media (blogs, podcasts, influencers, etc.)​ w​ ill enable students to better grasp some of the forces shaping culture in French society, equipping them with knowledge and concepts that are helpful to understanding dominant cultural trends and their impact on contemporary French Society. Exposing students to such a wide variety of materials will be ​intellectually compelling and will also expose them to a variety of language registers.