PhD blog: 34
Graham Foster
- May 2009.
The story so far… Graham is well into his unfunded part-time PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University. His original aim was to investigate American literature post-9/11.
Pop culture analysis: the final frontier
I went to see Star Trek the other day. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This may not sound like a relevant introductory line for a blog about the trials and tribulations of postgraduate study, but my experiences illuminate a particular oddity about life ‘within the Academy’ (or at least within the Humanities division of the Academy): the constant pressure to examine subtext/philosophical intent/allegorical symbolism etc of any piece of popular culture. On announcing my intent to see Star Trek that very evening, other PhD students implied I was up to some sort of diabolical scheme and was indeed sympathetic to villains everywhere.
‘Star Trek?’ I was pounced upon. ‘You don’t like Star Trek do you? It’s nothing but expansionist, imperialist American propaganda!’ In wanting to see spaceships, laser beams, pointy ears and, well, an exciting story, I was branded a political outcast (I’m not even a dyed-in-the-jumpsuit Trekkie/Trekker/TrekFan, I just thought the film looked exciting).
OK, I’m exaggerating a little. It wasn’t as aggressive as I’ve made it out, but some academics, both staff and students, cannot survive without analysing things to death. I’m not that sort of person, or rather I am when I have to be, when I’m doing my research or watching Blue Velvet or something, but I can turn it on and off. There are others like me, people who enjoy watching 24 and don’t worry about whether it condones torture or not (I was accused of this too, not so long ago), or people who don’t mind flicking through a Superman comic every now and then. Maybe it’s because my PhD is, in an indirect way, about popular culture, but I don’t see the point of ghettoising one form of culture and elevating another. It’s frustrating to talk to PhD students/other academics sometimes.
I think there’s a need for balance, as it’s easy to get sucked into the world of the mind. It’s no secret that lots of academics are somehow isolated and hard to relate to (although I would like to believe that this stereotype is declining), and it’s necessary (for me at least) to temper the high pursuits with a little bit of fun in terms of popular culture. I’m not saying these things shouldn’t have critical thought applied to them, I’m merely trying to describe the frustration faced if you don’t want to apply critical thought to them. Sometimes I feel I am expected to enter into critical discourse over everything. Interestingly, I caught an episode of a sitcom called The Big Bang Theory, which is about the travails of four academics. It was frighteningly true (minus all the science stuff, of course).
Anyway, I fear I’ve blown things out of proportion in trying to describe this tiny little aspect of postgraduate life. It happens sometimes, and I thought it would be interesting/fun to write about it in light of my recent cinema trip. The truth is everyone who does a PhD has that sort of analytical brain, even me, and it can be hard not to think about things too much. The trick is to learn how to focus - the same way Superman sometimes just looks at things without his x-ray vision…
Read my previous PhD blogs
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