I'm putting together a syllabus for a class I'm teaching this summer on pop culture, and I spent a good chunk of this week trying to brainstorm major moments in pop culture - especially in the last twenty years - that every self-respecting young adult should know. As a result, I've taken to asking every person I've run into what they consider to be the really unforgettable milestones, and the answers are super-fascinating. It's like making them look at blots of ink, except the blots tend to look like things like Calista Flockhart.
I'm making a list, and you get bonus points if it's (a) something I can reproduce for the class or show on a projector, and (b) something socially impactful like the first interracial kiss on Star Trek or Pedro Zamora living with HIV/AIDS on The Real World. Still, there are no right answers, so I'll also take things like the series finale of Seinfeld or Vanessa Williams, Richard Hatch, and Janet Jackson flashing various parts of their naked selves if that's really what struck you the most. Especially if you were struck blind.
4 comments:
First (implied) lesbian sex on primetime? Buffy, Season 6, the music episode.
In my opinion, any course on Pop culture requires at least one reading of "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. If pop culture is more than just major happenstance moments, but rather trends and cultural development, then that's the book that sums it up beautifully.
I remember the MTV VMA debut, or rather, Madonna's "Like a Virgin" performance therein. (Perhaps the best memory about that was my turning to my parents to ask what a virgin was. I was maybe 5.)
Also, Murphy Brown becoming the first single parent on primetime network television was a big deal at the time.
I must say, I've been reading for awhile and I'm a fan. And I'm totally living vicariously through you.
Ellen's coming out is the first thing that comes to mind.
And any number of things that appears on VH1's 'i love the 90s/80s' would probably be useful.
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