Madame Butterfly was an extraordinarily prominent figure in Western Culture at the turn of the 20th century. Her story was told in a famous opera, a novel, and Belasco’s play, among other locations. She became an iconic (if distorted) representation of Japanese womanhood in the West. What do you think are Butterfly’s defining charactersistics as a particularly Japanese woman? How does the play distinguish her from American womanhood?
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Philippine War and the Strenuous Life
What are the key features of the “strenuous life” that Roosevelt would have Americans lead? Why does Roosevelt think it’s so important at this particular point in American history to take up the behaviors, beliefs, and values he endorses?
Genthe and Chinatown
Orientalism
Emergence of Cinema
Judging from the examples listed on the syllabus, what are the sorts of things that early film makers sought to capture? Are they all of a kind, or are there different sorts of early films? Do the shorts you saw seem to support the arguments Ross makes or conflict with them? You don’t have to address all of these questions in your posts.
Highbrow/Lowbrow/Middlebrow: Amusement and Cultural Hierarchy
How does Robert Snyder or Lawrence Levine see popular theater changing near the turn of the 20th century? What kind of social groups identify with the changes? Does one of the sheet music covers or songs posted on the syllabus support the arguments of Snyder or Levine? Don’t feel obliged to address all of these questions in your post.
Desire, Luxury, and Department Stores
In Cather’s “Paul’s Case,” how would you characterize Paul’s relationship to consumer goods and luxury? How does William Leach’s discussion of the new department stores and their interior design and display influence your reading of Cather at one particular moment in the story?
Coney Island
What does Kasson think Coney Island offered that other forms of late-19th century amusement didn’t? What’s a striking example of Coney’s uniqueness?
This course traces significant changes in American cultural forms and practices through the 19th and into the 20th century. During this period, the United States changed from being largely a rural and pre-industrial nation, to one that was self-consciously “modern.” In our study of cultural change, we will focus on the rise of a mass consumer culture, the interplay between “mass” and “high” culture, and evolving ideas about citizenship, gender, class, and race that helped to form constantly competing visions of the nation.