[A Recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
April
1: Satire Studying: African American Satire: An April Fool’s series on
satire starts with a link to my recent Saturday
Evening Post Black History Month column.
April
2: Satire Studying: Innocents Abroad: The series continues with the
double-edged satire at the heart of Mark Twain’s first big hit.
April
3: Satire Studying: The Interview: What’s problematic, and what’s
important, about a hugely controversial cinematic comedy, as the series pokes
on.
April
4: Satire Studying: TV Satires: Four news and sketch comedy shows from
which we can learn a lot (but which I originally posted in 2017, so add more
recent nominations please!).
April
5: Satire Studying: The Big Short and Vice: The series concludes with value
and limits of satire when it comes to contemporary, contested events.
April
6-7: Emily Lauer on Comics Analysis & Editing as Public-Facing Scholarship:
My newest Guest Post from a familiar friend of the blog—Emily Lauer with her record-setting
4th Guest Post!
April
8: I Am AmericanStudying Sidney Poitier: Vaughn Joy on No Way Out: A series
on the 60th anniversary of Poitier’s groundbreaking Oscar win kicks
off with a FilmStudier I really love on Poitier’s cinematic debut.
April
9: I Am AmericanStudying Sidney Poitier: The Blackboard Jungle: The series continues
with a Poitier character who’s very similar to a 1980s favorite, and one
important distinction.
April
10: I Am AmericanStudying Sidney Poitier: The Defiant Ones: Two different
genres through which to contextualize Poitier’s 1958 prison break film, as the
series roles on.
April
11: I Am AmericanStudying Sidney Poitier: Two 1967 Classics: Standout
speeches and sweet sendoffs in Poitier’s pair of pitch-perfect 1967 films.
April
12: I Am AmericanStudying Sidney Poitier: Lillies of the Field: The series
concludes with what was historic about Poitier’s Oscar-winning role, what wasn’t
quite, and what’s importantly outside that framing.
April
13-14: I Am AmericanStudying Sidney Poitier: 21C Heirs: A special weekend follow-up
on noteworthy performances from five of our best contemporary Black actors (not
including Denzel and Morgan who could each get whole posts for their work
alone).
April
15: Mythic Patriotisms: The 1776 Project: For Patriots’ Day this year I wanted
to trace some histories and layers to one of the main categories in my book Of Thee I Sing, starting with a post on
how a project dedicated to “patriotic education” embodies the worst of mythic patriotism.
April
16: Mythic Patriotisms: The National Anthem: The series continues with two
layers of mythic patriotism found in the lesser-known later verses of “The
Star-Spangled Banner.”
April
17: Mythic Patriotisms: “Self-Made”: How an iconic American narrative is
mythic patriotic in both meanings and effects, as the series pledges on.
April
18: Mythic Patriotisms: Defining America’s Origins: The multiple mythic patriotic
layers to an origin story that centers on the Pilgrims/Puritans.
April
19: Mythic Patriotisms: Love It or Leave It: The series concludes with the
1960s constructions of a phrase that sums up mythic patriotism’s exclusions.
April
20-21: Mythic Patriotisms in 2024: There’s never been a moment with more
overt mythic patriotism than our own, and for this weekend follow-up I both
analyzed that presence and asked for connections to chances to talk more about
these topics!
April
22: Climate Culture: Cli Fi: An Earth Day series on cultural works about
the climate crisis kicks off with a stunning recent novel that extends the long
legacy of cli fi.
April
23: Climate Culture: The Day After Tomorrow and Don’t Look Up: The series
continues with the necessity but limitations of disaster movies, and an
important recent variation on the genre.
April
24: Climate Culture: “The Tradition”: Two complementary ways to read a
climate change moment in Jericho Brown’s powerful 21st century sonnet,
as the series rolls on.
April
25: Climate Culture: “The Ghost Birds”: What’s specific and what’s universal
in Karen Russell’s amazing 2021 short story.
April
26: Climate Culture: Climate Songs: The series and month conclude with five
examples of pop music perspectives on the climate crisis, including Midnight
Oil’s great album Resist (2022).
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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