Semiotics of Mass Culture
| Title | Σημειωτική της δημοφιλούς κουλτούρας / Semiotics of Mass Culture |
| Code | ΕΜ-19 |
| Interdepartmental Programme | Semiotics, Culture and Communication |
| Collaborating Schools | French Language and Literature Italian Language and Literature Journalism and Mass Communications Architecture |
| Cycle / Level | 2nd / Postgraduate |
| Teaching Period | Winter/Spring |
| Common | No |
| Status | Active |
| Course ID | 600015002 |
Programme of Study: Semiotics, Culture and Communication
Registered students: 21
| Orientation | Attendance Type | Semester | Year | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KORMOS | Elective Courses | Winter/Spring | - | 7.5 |
| Academic Year | 2025 – 2026 |
| Class Period | Winter |
| Instructors from Other Categories | |
| Class ID | 600290449
|
Course Type 2011-2015
Specific Foundation / Core
Mode of Delivery
- Face to face
Digital Course Content
- e-Study Guide https://qa.auth.gr/en/class/1/600290449
- At the Website of the School: http://dpms-semiotics.frl.auth.gr/courses-menu-gr
Language of Instruction
- Greek (Instruction, Examination)
General Competences
- Apply knowledge in practice
- Retrieve, analyse and synthesise data and information, with the use of necessary technologies
- Make decisions
- Work autonomously
- Work in teams
- Work in an interdisciplinary team
- Generate new research ideas
- Appreciate diversity and multiculturality
- Demonstrate social, professional and ethical commitment and sensitivity to gender issues
- Advance free, creative and causative thinking
Course Content (Syllabus)
The course initially aims to an extensive examination of the pop culture’s multiple facets and their various intersections. In depth semiotic analysis on a wide variety of visual examples and cultural practices will help us trace the symbolisms involved, the artifacts themselves, the cultural processes, the influences from and the impacts on visual culture, on the over all lifestyles, on urban environment as well as in society at large.
The lessons will draw on examples from encountering fields and practices such as the comics, graffiti, cinema, the Press and TV, subcultures, DIY culture, music videos, tattoos, gastronomy, graphic design, fashion, the art world, entertainment and the cultural industries, sports, commerce and marketing.
Further cases examined extend from music concerts to events such as the Olympic Games opening ceremonies and the Eurovision song contests. From the underground parties to the club cultures, from mega events to the beach bars, from the fanzines to the free Press, to Youtube and Tumblr pages, from murals to memes and gifs. From the counterculture to consumer and hipster culture, expanding even further to notions such as style and fads, and to dualisms such as metropolis and periphery, high and low, grassroots and mainstream.
Ultimately, the course’s objective is an over all understanding of symbolic gestures, the various phenomena and actions, the cultural production, as well as a critical approach on the aforementioned.
Keywords
pop culture, viusal culture, subcultures
Educational Material Types
- Slide presentations
- Video lectures
- Audio
- Multimedia
Use of Information and Communication Technologies
Use of ICT
- Use of ICT in Communication with Students
Course Organization
| Activities | Workload | ECTS | Individual | Teamwork | Erasmus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Reading Assigment | ✓ | ||||
| Written assigments | ✓ | ||||
| Total |
Student Assessment
Student Assessment methods
- Written Assignment (Formative, Summative)
- Performance / Staging (Formative, Summative)
- Labortatory Assignment (Formative, Summative)
- Artistic Performance (Formative, Summative)
Bibliography
Additional bibliography for study
• Aarseth, E. J., (1997). Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Βaltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (Σελ. 1-57).
• Austin, J., 2001. Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Baudrillard J. 1991. Two Essays: Simulacra and Science Fiction. https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/55/baudrillard55art.htm
• Baudrillard, J. 1993. Symbolic Exchange and Death. London: Sage Publications.
• Bell D. & Kennedy M.B. 2000. The Cybercultures Reader. London & New York. Routledge.
• Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games: The Expressive Power of Videogames (Σελ. 1-54). Cambridge, ΜΑ: MIT Press.
• Chang, Jeff. 2005. Can't stop, won't stop: a history of the hip-hop generation. New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Danica Jovanovic & Theo Van Leeuwen (2018) Multimodal dialogue on social media, Social Semiotics, 28:5, 683-699.
• Elisabetta Adami (2018) Styling the self online: semiotic technologization in weblog publishing, Social Semiotics, 28:5, 601-622.
• Fisher, Mark. 2012. «What Is Hauntology?». Film Quarterly 66(1), 16-24.
• Frølunde, L. 2011. «Animated war: Perspectives on resemiosis and authorship applied to two DIY film projects». Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 18(1), σελ. 93–103.
• Frank, Thomas. 1997. The conquest of cool: business culture, counterculture, and the rise of hip consumerism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Gair, Christopher. 2007. The American counterculture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Glitsos, Laura. 2017. «Vaporwave, or music optimized for abandoned malls». Popular Music 37(1), 100-118.
• Hall, Stuart, and Tony Jefferson. 1976. Resistance through rituals: youth subcultures in post-war Britain. London: Hutchinson.
• Hebdige, D. 1979. Subculture. The meaning of style. London: Routledge.
• Jameson, Fredric. 1991. Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Λονδίνο & Νέα Υόρκη: Verso.
• Jenkins, H. 2012. Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture. London & New York. Routledge.
• Leone M. (2015). Longing for the past: a semiotic reading of the role of nostalgia in present-day consumption trends. Social Semiotics, 25(1), 1-15.
• Murray, J. H. (1998). Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace (Σελ. 53-96). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
• Pangalos, Orestis, “The Dimitrios Shipwreck in Gytheion examined as an accidental monument” (2021). Στο διαδικτυακό́ περιοδικό́ Interartive, https://interartive.org/2021/01/dimitrios-shipwreck-gytheion-examined-accidental-monument-orestis-pangalos
• Pangalos, Orestis, “Two Museum Visits in Lund, Sweden and the Streets between Them: Accidental Monuments between Public and Curated Spaces.” Thessaloniki: Punctum. International Journal of Semiotics. 5.2 (2019): 155-181 http://punctum.gr/?download=two-museum-visits-in-lund-sweden-and-the-streets-between-them-accidental-monuments-between-public-and-curated-spaces
• Ruffino P. (2015). A Theory of Non-existent Video Games: Semiotic and Video Game Theory. In Fromme Johannes & Unger Alexander (Eds.) Computer Games and New Media Cultures: A Handbook of Digital Games Studies (107-124). New York & London, Springer.
• Roszak, Theodore. 1969. The making of a counter culture; reflections on the technocratic society and its youthful opposition. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
• Scott F. Aikin (2012): Poe's Law, group polarization, and argumentative failure in religious and political discourse, Social Semiotics.
• Sennett, Richard. 1977. The fall of public man. New York: Knopf.
• Shifman L. 2014. The Cultural Logic of Photo-Based Meme Genres, (σελ. 340-358). Journal of Visual Culture 13 (3).
• Søren Vigild Poulsen, Gunhild Kvåle & Theo van Leeuwen (2018) Special issue: Social media as semiotic technology, Social Semiotics, 28:5, 593-600.
• Strachan, Robert. 2017. Sonic Technologies: Popular Music, Digital Culture and the Creative Process. Νέα Υόρκη & Λονδίνο. Bloomsbury.
• Sumin Zhao & Michele Zappavigna (2018) The interplay of (semiotic) technologies and genre: the case of the selfie, Social Semiotics, 28:5, 665-682
• Thornton, Sarah. 1996. Club cultures: music, media, and subcultural capital. Hanover: University Press of New England.
• Whelan, Andrew & Nowak, Raphaël. 2018. «“Vaporwave Is (Not) a Critique of Capitalism”: Genre Work in An Online Music Scene». Open Cultural Studies 2: 451-462.
• Williams, Raymond. 1958. Culture and society, 1780-1950. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Wiggins, B. 2019. The Discursive Power of Memes in Digital Culture: Ideology, Semiotics, and Intertextuality. New York & London. Routledge.
• Πετρίδης, Πέτρος. 2020. «Μουσικές πρακτικές των φαν των anime στην Ελλάδα. Οι περιπτώσεις των κοινοτήτων AMV και nightcore στο YouTube», στο Καλλιμοπούλου Ε. & Θεοδοσίου Σ. (επιμ.), Μουσικές κοινότητες στην Ελλάδα του 21ου αιώνα: εθνογραφικές ματιές και ακροάσεις. (σελ. 487-512). Αθήνα. Πεδίο.
• Πετρίδης, Πέτρος. 2021. «Αναπαριστώντας και αναπαράγοντας το παρελθόν: Machinima, ψηφιακή πειρατεία και νοσταλγία στα μαζικά διαδικτυακά παιχνίδια», στο Μπούνια Α. και Καταπότη Δ. (επιμ.), Αναδυόμενες Τεχνολογίες και Πολιτιστική Κληρονομιά. (σελ. 61-83). Αθήνα. Εκδόσεις Αλεξάνδρεια.
Last Update
04-12-2023
