124269 AR Cultural/Media Studies 1/2 (AR) (2024S)

The Greek word for the trigger-sensitive part which when touched snaps shut a trap is "scandalon", but for any modern understanding of a scandal the question of who sees what and what effect being seen has on intersectional power relations is crucial as well. For a scandal to occur, a moral system against which someone offends, must be in place, as well as a community/an audience that finds out about it and cares enough to feel offended by the respective breach, which usually requires some media involvement. What happens to a scandal when the moral system changes? What happens when the respective legal system lags behind a society's moral code that has already changed? What happens when, due to too many scandals, we stop caring altogether? What roles can and do the media play in informing and/or producing and/or manipulating the community that is necessary to make a scandal? What role do they play when it comes to faking scandals? In this course, we shall explore structures of the scandalous by interrogating both historical (Hall's lesbian novel judged as 'obscene'; the controversy around Lolita) and contemporary scandals (Weinstein & #Me Too; Edward Snowden's whistleblowing on the NSA; the murder of George Floyd & BLM). We will discuss texts (The Well of Loneliness, Lolita, Trumpet), documentaries (Citizen 4, Untouchable), a mini-series (A Very English Scandal) and two social commentaries by comedians (8:46; Government Surveillance: Last Week with John Oliver).

The 'specialist'-task (which every student in class undertakes once) is supposed to provide the basis and impulses for the group work (in which every student in class participates on a weekly basis). You'll be expected to provide a powerpoint presentation as an accompaniment to your specialist task.

One week before the lesson in which it is your turn to act as specialist, I will meet with you to discuss your ideas, make additional suggestions and help you structure your plan (prep meeting). You will then finalise your plan, and send out a prep mail to the rest of the course. Immediately after your specialist lesson, you, next week's specialist and I will get together for an immediate reflexion (triple feedback loop), which takes into consideration your own estimate of your performance, peer-feedback and feedback from me.