First Year Seminar 191HFA17 - FYS- Camp! Kitsch! Opulence!

Why is disco so ridiculous? Why is Eurovision like that? Why did Lady Gaga wear a dress made out of real meat in 2010? Perhaps better questions to ask are: "What is Camp?" and "Why do people do it?" Our class will take a look throughout history and discuss the origins and lively history of the campy, the weird, and the overexaggerated. We will discuss how Camp is primarily a viewpoint with which to see the world; it is a love of the exaggerated and the artifice, and it has deep cultural connections to historical minorities such as gay/queer communities and Black American culture. Through mediums like performance, music, film, and more, our class will come to terms with our own campy selves and what it means to be as extra as possible. Se camper!

First year students only - (Freshmen or Sophomore status) First year (Fr or Soph)