Course Schedule

Start > Leuphana Bachelor (B.A./B.Eng./B.Sc./LL.B.) -> Major Cultural Studies: Organization, Society, and the Arts -> Contemporary Challenges in Organization, Society, and the Arts I: Technology and Ecology

Lehrveranstaltungen

“F#€K FAME(¡¿!)” Influence in the age of self-spectacle (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Gabriel S Moses

Inhalt: Imagine you used the Richter scale to measure celebrity fame. Say you did it by charting the difference between 1960s Beatlemania and today’s fans, causing actual earthquakes at Taylor Swift concerts. Your seismograph wouldn’t be able to pick up anything but a slight increase in intensity. However, a cultural analysis would potentially reveal nothing short of a tectonic shift. The following course begins with the assumption that we can no longer measure fame today in the same way we did in the past. It is less the definition of ‘being famous’ that has changed as much as what it means to us. With the instantaneousness of internet virality, the economic shift towards influencer marketing, and online services that democratize talent exposure, fame has become diversified, atomized, and unrecognizable as a concept to former generations. Can it still be just a by-product of good artistic or intellectual work, or has fame long since become a goal in its own right for all? Where do you draw the line today between being admired as spectacular and just making a spectacle of yourself? In the fields of cultural production, this dramatic shift forces program directors to rethink the type of platforms they provide and to whom—audience and presenters alike. Or maybe another way to phrase the underlying question of this seminar is: If all the world is a stage, what makes yours stand out? The course is structured as a ‘long conversation,’ spread out over a kickoff session, two intensive weekend blocks, and a practice-based wrap-up home assignment. Our discussion will draw on the widest selection of online sources—from YouTube essays to essays about YouTubers. During this active dialogue, students are also expected to produce and present their findings and reflections in the form of short presentations, prepared either individually or in pairs.

Leuphana Bachelor - Major Cultural Studies: Organization, Society, and the Arts - Contemporary Challenges in Organization, Society, and the Arts I: Technology and Ecology