CAS-HC240 Swift and Storytelling
Taylor Swift held all of the top ten spots on the Billboard chart after her most recent album, Midnights, dropped in October. She is a megastar at the height of her powers. But where do those powers come from? Why is she so popular? Perhaps it is down to her ability to tell a story. In this 1 credit course, we will look at Taylor Swift's work through the lens of narrative theory--a branch of literary theory that looks at how we tell stories and how they affect us as readers (or listeners). Each week, we'll listen to one or two songs, and analyze the lyrics in view of a particular theory. We'll look at 'Midnight Rain' as an example of Theory of Mind, we'll analyze "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" as an example of a roman a clef and many more. Towards the end of the semester, students will create the curriculum, presenting close readings of songs to their classmates. This course will culminate in a short paper analyzing a song in the context of a theory.
Prerequisite
CAS Honors Students only