COML 2005 - [Punk: Literature, Art, Music]

(crosslisted)
(also ENGL 2005, MUSIC 2305) (LA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits.

Next offered 2014-2015.

T. McEnaney.

In this course we will explore competing claims to punk’s origins (London or New York), U.S. punk’s regional differences (the New York scene’s connection to the art and literary worlds, Southern California’s skate and surf culture, etc.), its key movements (hardcore, straight edge, riot grrrl, crust, queercore), its race, class and gender relations, and its ongoing influence on global youth culture. We will read, listen, and watch a variety of media to analyze how punk draws from and alters previous aesthetic movements from Dadaism to Situationism. How might early punk fashion’s neo-primitivism comment on the fall of the British empire? What might 1980s musical adaptations (Dead Kennedy’s “Kill the Poor”) of 19th century poetry (Charles Baudelaire’s “Beat the Poor”) tell us about history and genre?