Introduction to Popular Culture Movements: Swan Lake Unfolded
Episode notes
Tune in for this introduction to a new digital humanities project, Swan Lake Unfolded, which uses popular culture as a playground for learning about ourselves and the world around us. For anyone unfamiliar with Swan Lake, or who simply wants to learn more about our season, project lead Dr. Jen Atkins talks through an overview of the episodes ahead in this inaugural podcast episode.
This first season, Swan Lake Unfolded, is part of a larger project, “Popular Culture Movements,” which maps how cultural touchstones move through media (and what that means). So Swan Lake Unfolded really isn’t solely about the ballet Swan Lake—it’s about myths, parody, music, history, games, dancing, food, memory, and more! It’s a celebration of reinvention and what the past reveals about our present and the kinds of futures we want to create…
How do we do this? This season we dive into three streaming tv shows—Hulu'sThe Handmaid’s Tale, Ted Lasso, and Bridgerton—to explore how Swan Lake references open up larger conversations around identity, love, community, and art. We question how popular culture is a portal to thinking through ways of moving through the world, not only reflecting our values and dreams, but also our ideal solutions, too. We pair podcasts with website content (swanlakeunfolded.com) to engage listeners even more, creating webs of ideas that we hope will continue to ripple outward.
Episode Cover Art 📸: Alexey Yakovlev via Flickr