MUS 279
American Pop Orientalism Spring 2020
Division I Writing Skills Difference, Power, and Equity
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This tutorial will investigate the representation of Asians and Asian Americans in American popular culture since the late nineteenth century. Our focus will be on music’s role in Orientalist representation in a wide variety of media and genres, including Hollywood film, television, popular song, music videos, Broadway musicals, hip hop, and novels. We will begin with major texts in cultural theory (Said, Bhabha) and will attempt throughout the semester to revise and refine their tenets. Can American Orientalism be distinguished in any fundamental way from nineteenth-century European imperialist thought? How does Orientalist representation calibrate when the “exotic others” being represented are themselves Americans? Our own critical thought will be sharpened through analysis and interpretation of specific works, such as Madame Butterfly , “Chinatown, My Chinatown,” Sayonara , Flower Drum Song , Miss Saigon , Rising Sun , M. Butterfly , Aladdin , and Weezer’s Pinkerton . We will end the semester by considering the current state of Orientalism in American popular culture.