Saturday, March 2, 2024

March 2-3, 2024: February 2024 Recap

[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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