British Popular Culture Since 1945

Module code: HA3475

This is a module on the history of popular (visual) culture in Britain since 1945 – including cinema, television, comics and popular fiction. The intellectual focus of the module will be on understanding popular culture in relation to its social and historical contexts. Hence we will look at both the producers and the consumers of popular culture, as well as at the ‘texts’. The emphasis will be on the relationship between popular cultural forms and genres in relation to the wider social, cultural and political histories of Britain since the Second World War. We will consider how and why certain cultural texts have been popular at particular historical moments. And we will address the extent to which popular culture plays a role in reflecting or perhaps even shaping wider cultural attitudes and values.