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Frequently dismissed as fad or noise, popular culture is one of the most important socializing agents in our lives. This course will examine the media through which popular culture is transferred and created, the content of popular culture, the meanings of popular culture, and the effect it has on the individual and society. Topics include the meaning of cultural texts such as movies, what the layout of a college campus means, sameness and predictability in music and television, how online social networking and YouTube have transformed our lives, the liberating and oppressive possibilities of Girls Gone Wild, and how ideas about race and gender are reproduced and maintained. In order to provide the student with tools to be able to critically examine such familiar cultural artifacts, the ideas of several theorists will be examined and applied, including Marx, Barthes, Zizkek, and others.