[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
February
5: AmericanStudying Sports Movies: Bad News Boys and Bears: This year’s
Super Bowl series focused on sports films, starting with our problematic
obsession with lovable losers.
February
6: AmericanStudying Sports Movies: Hoosiers and Rudy: The series continued
with the untold histories behind stories of underdog champions.
February
7: AmericanStudying Sports Movies: The Longest Yard(s): What the changes
between a film and its remake can tell us about American narratives, as the series
plays on.
February
8: AmericanStudying Sports Movies: The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook:
The interesting results when an unconventional filmmaker works in a deeply
conventional genre.
February
9: AmericanStudying Sports Movies: Remember the Titans: The series
concludes with the over-the-top scene and speech that really shouldn’t work,
but somehow do.
February
10-11: AmericanStudying Sports Movies: My Pitch!: A special follow-up with
my pitch for a sports movie adapting one of our most inspiring histories!
February
12: AmericanStudying Love Songs: “At Last”: With love in the air, this
year’s Valentine’s series focused on love songs, kicking off with the
biographical and cultural layers to a timeless classic.
February
13: AmericanStudying Love Songs: “Wake Up Little Susie”: The series
continues with the boundary between innocence and sex in early rock and roll,
and a song that cut across it.
February
14: AmericanStudying Love Songs: “You Can’t Hurry Love”: What’s special
about one of Motown’s countless classic love songs, as the series serenades on.
February
15: AmericanStudying Love Songs: “Storybook Love”: A beautiful example of a
film love song that’s about both the movie and the romance.
February
16: AmericanStudying Love Songs: “Happy”: Couldn’t get through the week
without some Bruce, and here’s my favorite of his many great “adult love songs.”
February
17-18: AmericanStudying Love Songs: Five New Classics: The series concludes
with five 21st century love songs sure to become classics!
February
19: Prejudicial Non-Favorites: Jefferson and Banneker: For this year’s
non-favorites series I focused on moments when generally impressive figures
gave in to white supremacy, starting with a Framer’s frustratingly racist
response.
February
20: Prejudicial Non-Favorites: Lincoln’s Mass Execution: The series
continues with two ways in which our greatest president gave in to white
supremacist violence and exclusion.
February
21: Prejudicial Non-Favorites: Anthony’s Priorities: A collective and an individual
frustration with an inspiring figure’s worst quote, as the series gripes on.
February
22: Prejudicial Non-Favorites: Harlan’s Exclusions: A history and a
contemporary lesson from an iconic Justice’s prejudices.
February
23: Prejudicial Non-Favorites: London’s Fighting Words: The series concludes
with an ugly moment when white supremacy trumped athletic supremacy.
February
24-25: Biden and Anti-Immigrant Narratives: A special follow-up post,
highlighting a thread where I critiqued our current president’s embrace of
xenophobia.
February
26: Leap Years: 1816: For this once-every-four-years occasion, a Leap Year
Studying series kicks off with three 1816 trends.
February
27: Leap Years: 1848: The series continues with how three distinct events
within a 10-day period in early 1848 changed the world.
February
28: Leap Years: 1904: Five of the many cultural legacies of the 1904 World’s
Fair, as the series leaps on.
February
29: Leap Years: 1948: A couple significant 1948 election contexts beyond the
justifiably famous “Dewey Defeats Truman.”
March
1: Leap Years: 1984 in Film: The series and month conclude with how three
1984 blockbusters reflect 80s debates.
Next
series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Topics
you’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!
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