WEEK 1
Tuesday, Jan. 25: Introduction to the Course – Situating Fantasy
mp3 of discussion / lecture slides
Introduction to the course – no readings due
Thursday, Jan. 27: Fantasy Matters
mp3 of discussion
viewing due:
The Great Happiness Space. 2006. Jake Clennell, dir. 76 minutes.
* Film is on reserve at Skillman’s front desk. *
* Film is also streaming on Netflix *
Friday, Jan. 28: Short writing assignment due at 5pm.
WEEK 2
Tuesday, Feb. 1: Living Online
mp3 of discussion
readings due:
Tom Boellstorf. 2008. Coming of Age in Second Life: An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton: Princeton UP. Pages: xi – 117.
Thursday, Feb. 3: Online Living
mp3 of discussion
Tom Boellstorf. 2008. Coming of Age in Second Life: An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton: Princeton UP. Pages: 118 – 178.
Friday, Feb. 4: Short writing assignment due at 5pm.
WEEK 3
Tuesday, Feb. 8: Gaming
readings due:
Tom Boellstorf. 2008. Coming of Age in Second Life: An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton: Princeton UP. 179 – 250.
Thursday, Feb. 10: Half-Real
readings due:
P. W. Singer. 2009. Wired for War. New York: Penguin. Chapters 8 “What Inspires Them” and 10 “The Big Cebrowski”, and look at the pictures of warfare robots.
Friday, Feb. 11: Short writing assignment due at 5pm.
WEEK 4
Tuesday, Feb. 15: Gaming War
reading due:
P. W. Singer. 2009. Wired for War. New York: Penguin. Chapters 14 “Losers and Luddites,” Chapter 17 “Changing the Experience of War and the Warrior,” and Chapter 19 “Who Let You in the War?”
Thursday, Feb. 17
no class meetings
no reading assigned
Friday, Feb. 18: Short writing assignment due at 5pm.
WEEK 5
Tuesday, Feb. 22: 2.5D
viewing due:
Train Man [電車男]. 2005. Murakami Shosuke, dir. 101 minutes.
* Films are always on reserve at Skillman’s front desk. *
Thursday, Feb. 24: Fetishized Reality
readings due:
Mark Andrejevic. 2003. Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched. London: Roman & Littlefield. Chapter 1 “Between the New Medium and the Old” and Chapter 3 “Rediscovering Reality”
Friday, Feb. 25: First paper thesis paragraph due at 5pm.
WEEK 6
Tuesday, March 1: Watching How Reality is Made
readings due:
Mark Andrejevic. 2003. Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched. London: Roman & Littlefield. Chapter 4 “The Kinder, Gentler Gaze of Big Brother,” Chapter 5 “Access to the Real,” Chapter 7 “Reality TV and Voyeurism,” and Chapter 8 “Survivor and Uncanny Capitalism”
Thursday, March 3: Sex & Fantasy
readings due:
Catherine MacKinnon. 1992. "Pornography, Civil Rights and Speech." In, Pornography: Women, Violence, and Civil Liberties. Oxford: Oxford UP. Pages: 456-511.
Friday, March 4: First short paper due at 5pm.
WEEK 7
Tuesday, March 8: Embodying Pornography
readings due:
Gayle Rubin. 1993. "Misguided, Dangerous and Wrong: An analysis of anti-pornography politics." In, Bad Girls and Dirty Pictures: The Challenge to Reclaim Feminism. London: Pluto Press.
Pages: 18-40.
Thursday, March 10: Fake
readings due:
Laurie Essig. 2010. American Plastic: Boob Jobs, Credit Cards, and our Quest for Perfection. Boston: Beacon Press. “Introduction” and “The State of Plastic.”
viewing due:
The Joneses. 2009. Derrick Borte, dir. 96 minutes.
Friday, March 11: Short writing assignment due at 5pm by email.
WEEK 8
Tuesday, March 22: WWE
viewing due:
Beyond the Mat. 1999. Barry Blaustein, dir. 102 minutes.
Thursday, March 24: Wrassling
readings due:
Nicholas Sammond. “Introduction: A Brief and Unnecessary Defense of Professional Wrestling.” In Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling. Nicholas Sammond, ed. Durham: Duke University Press.
Sharon Mazer. “’Real’ Wrestling / ‘Real’ Life.” In Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling. Nicholas Sammond, ed. Durham: Duke University Press.
Friday, March 25: Short writing assignment due at 5pm by email.
WEEK 9
Tuesday, March 29: Fantasy Sport
readings due:
Sam Walker. 2007. Fantasyland: A Sportswriter's Obsessive Bid to Win the World's Most Ruthless Fantasy Baseball. New York: Penguin. Part 1
Thursday, March 31: Fantasy Sport
readings due:
Sam Walker. 2007. Fantasyland: A Sportswriter's Obsessive Bid to Win the World's Most Ruthless Fantasy Baseball. New York: Penguin. Part 2
Friday, April 1: Thesis paragraph for second paper due at 5pm by email.
WEEK 10
Tuesday, April 5: Fantasy Gold
readings due:
Julian Dibbell. 2006. Play Money: Or, How I Quit my Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot. New York: Basic Books. Part 1
Thursday, April 7: Fantasy Sport
readings due:
Julian Dibbell. 2006. Play Money: Or, How I Quit my Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot. New York: Basic Books. Part 2
Friday, April 8: No writing due.
WEEK 11
Tuesday, April 12: Stone Money
readings due:
WIlliam Henry Furniss. 1910. The Island of Stone Money. Philadelphia: Lippincott. Introduction and chapter 7.
Milton Friedman. 1991. “The Island of Stone Money.” In his, Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History. New York: Harcourt Brace. Pages 3-8.
Thursday, April 14: Value
listen to:
“The Invention of Money.” 2011. Radio broadcast from This American Life. 59 minutes.
Go here and click “play episode”
Friday, April 15: Second short paper due at 5pm by email.
WEEK 12
Tuesday, April 19: Fantasy Assets
readings due:
Lawrence Weschler. 1999. Boggs: A Comedy of Values. Chicago: U Chicago Press. ix – 146.
Thursday, April 21: Fantasy Assets
* Be sure to listen to these stories in order. *
listen to:
“The Giant Pool of Money.” 2008. Radio broadcast from This American Life. 59 minutes.
Go here and click “play episode”
“Return to the Giant Pool of Money.” 2009. Radio broadcast from This American Life. 19 minutes.
Go here, and start listening at minute 36.
“The Watchmen.” 2009. Radio broadcast from This American Life. 58 minutes.
Go here and click “play episode”
Friday, April 22: A short statement of intent about your final paper topic is due at 5pm by email. Explain what your final paper will be about. Begin work on the rough draft of your paper.
WEEK 13
Tuesday, April 26: Real Money
readings due:
Michael Lewis. 2010. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: W.W. Norton. Pages: xiii – 103.
Thursday, April 28: Fantasy Value
readings due:
Michael Lewis. 2010. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: W.W. Norton. Pages: 104 – 178.
Friday, April 29: Rough draft due to me and your group members at 5pm by email.
WEEK 14
Tuesday, May 3: Final Fantasy
readings due:
Michael Lewis. 2010. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: W.W. Norton. Pages: 179 – 264.
Thursday, May 5: American Fantasies and Future Questions
readings due:
Barbara Ehrenreich. 2009. “Introduction,” “Motivating Business and the Business of Motivation,” and “God Wants you to be Rich.” From her Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America. Pages: 97-146.
Friday, May 6: Rough draft comments due to me and your group members at 5pm by email.
Final paper deadline Saturday, May 14th at 5pm by email.