Harry Styles becomes the object of study. The British singer will soon be at the center of a new course taught at Texas State University. It will be released in the spring of 2023 and will be titled “Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity: Identity, Internet, and European Pop Culture”.
The course will be taught by Louie Dean Valencia, professor of digital history, graduate in European history and specialized in countercultures:
“Over the past two years, I couldn’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with students that began with our shared love of Harry’s music and quickly evolved into broader societal questions about gender, sexuality, ethnicity, gun control… ”, he explains to CNN.
extensive program
Focusing on this artist whose outfits and speeches regularly challenge gender norms, her course will aim to highlight “the cultural and political development of the modern celebrity, linked to issues of gender and sexuality, ethnicity, class, nation and globalization, media , fashion”. , fan phenomena, internet culture and consumerism”.
Louie Dean Valencia will analyze the 28-year-old singer’s career from his beginnings with the boy band One Direction (when he was 16 years old) to his successful solo career since 2017. He will also talk about the artists who have inspired the singer, and mentions in particular the writings of the feminist activist Susan Sontag and the philosopher Alain de Botton.
“We will not focus on his private life but on his art and public militancy, as well as on the literature, philosophy, music and cinema that he has cited among his influences”, add on twitter. “In the same way that we study the works of Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf or any other great artist.”
Harry Styles is not the first pop star to study at university. Beyoncé received the same honors at the University of Copenhagen in 2017, for a course that focused on feminism and African-American identity. Earlier this year, New York University announced a course on Taylor Swift, whose goal was to study the singer’s career to highlight what she says about the American sociopolitical climate.
Source: BFM TV
