Kulturraumstudien USA, Work for Week One

Welcome to the course!

Even though we won't be meeting in person today, I'm still excited about the new semester and hope you are as well. In these days, as always, I hope you will be kind to yourself and to those around you. I personally have found meditation, yoga, and eating well to work wonders in terms of my general mood and as a way to prevent feeling confined in my apartment. I hope these times can have the positive effect of you getting to know yourself a bit better.

In the coming weeks, we'll be focusing on some domains of US culture and society and their influence/impact on the trends of today. There will be no online lectures; everything you need will be provided in weekly posts (on Mondays) here on the blog.

This week, I'd like you to watch this documentary in its entirety on the birth of Hollywood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9-iCdUrnJ0
As you are watching, I'd like to a) make a timeline of developments and milestones featured in the film and place them in a greater context (i.e. Who is the US president at this time? What conflicts have just ended/are about to begin? What other breakthroughs are being made in science and technology?) and b) process the content of the documentary critically and make connections (ex. isn't it interesting how TikTok and other short video platforms features a similar user experience to Edison's Kinetoscope?)

Then, read the article "Hollywood Has a Huge Millennial Problem" https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/hollywood-has-a-huge-millennial-problem/486209/ and answer the questions, "Has Hollywood forgotten what brought people to movies in the early 20th century? Is it in Hollywood's interest to reconnect to these 'roots' to attract millennial viewers?"

Feel free to send both your timelines and your response to these questions to me via email if you'd like.

On a completely different note, each week I'm going to post some of my favorite music from the States just for fun. Feel free to send me your tips as well (only two conditions: it must be connected to the US in some way and it needs to be upbeat or chill). One of my favorite YouTube channels is Amoeba Records' "What's in my bag?" series https://www.youtube.com/user/amoeba where famous musicians feature their store picks. Below is what would be in my bag :-):

Bobby Hebb "Sunny" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5xGXpNt74
Gladys Knight & The Pips "I've Got to Use My Imagination" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kPFrQPdKPM
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs "Foggy Bottom Breakdown" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Y3mnj-8lA
Neil LeVang "Ghostriders in the Sky" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir7fjfqzcOM
Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbpk3pYrACs
Alice Coltrane "Turiya and Ramakrishna" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMuDWDVd20