Category Archives: Fantasy

Syllabus for Media and Cultural Studies

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

COMM 6160/8690, Spring 2012 Thursdays 4:30-7:00 PM, Sparks 321 Ted Friedman Office: 738 One Park Place South ted@tedfriedman.com http://twitter.com/tedfriedman http://tedfriedman.com Course Description What are the political dimensions of popular culture? How does culture reflect, influence, and embody structures of power? … Continue reading →

Posted in Carl Jung, Centaur Manifesto, Comics, Commons, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Fredric Jameson, Ideology, Karl Marx, Lists, Movies, Music, Myth, Play, Science Fiction, Slavoj Zizek, Social Media, Sound, Ted, TV | Leave a comment

Marx, Jung & Yoda: The Dialectics of The Force

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

Here’s a talk about Star Wars and myth that I gave last month  at the Academy of Religious Studies conference in San Francisco. Feedback is welcome – I’m in the process of turning this into the introduction to my book, … Continue reading →

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Renewal

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

A couple of weeks ago I attended a wonderful workshop put together by Depth Psychology Seminars, a group of Jungian therapists and artists. The weekend included both lectures and creative workshops – opportunities to move from theory to practice, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Carl Jung, Cats, Centaur Manifesto, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Myth | 3 Comments

Syllabus for Issues & Perspectives in Communication Theory, Fall 2011

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

Comm 6010, Fall 2011 Class: Tuesdays 4:30-7:00 PM, 1020 One Park Place South Office: 738 One Park Place South email: ted@tedfriedman.com website: http://www.tedfriedman.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tedfriedman Course Description Communication is a wide-ranging field encompassing the study of speech, journalism, film, television, … Continue reading →

Posted in Centaur Manifesto, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Ideology, Karl Marx, Movies, Music, Science Fiction, Slavoj Zizek, Ted | Leave a comment

Syllabus for American Film History II, Fall 2011

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

Film 4960/6960, Fall 2011 Class: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:00-2:15, Classroom South 426 Screenings: Thursdays at 2:30, Arts & Humanities 406 Office: 738 One Park Place South email: ted@tedfriedman.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman website: http://www.tedfriedman.com Course Description How do movies reflect and influence … Continue reading →

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What I’ve Been Up to the Last Five Years

Posted on March 7, 2011 by

I recently had to write up what I’ve been working on over the last five years for my “post-tenure dossier,” so I thought I’d excerpt that here to explain how I got from Electric Dreams: Computers and American Culture to … Continue reading →

Posted in Buddhism, Carl Jung, Centaur Manifesto, Commons, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Fredric Jameson, Ideology, Karl Marx, Movies, Music, Myth, Play, Science Fiction, Slavoj Zizek, Social Media, Sound, Ted, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Summer Graduate Seminar: Post-Marxisms

Posted on February 27, 2011 by

This summer I’ll be teaching a graduate seminar, “Post-Marxisms.” Here’s an overview: Is Marxism dead? If so, what other forms of critique and imagination can help us think beyond the injustices and unsustainability of global capitalism? What can we learn … Continue reading →

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Grammy Night Reflections on Projection

Posted on February 14, 2011 by

From tweets the night of February 13, 2011. In Jungian terms, technological determinism is projection: giving power to machines that really belongs to ourselves. Projection is necessary & valuable – it’s what Robert Johnson calls “carrying your gold” when you’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Buddhism, Carl Jung, Centaur Manifesto, Comics, Commons, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Fredric Jameson, Movies, Music, Myth, Slavoj Zizek, Social Media, Ted | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Grammy Night Tweets (reverse-chronological order)

Posted on February 14, 2011 by

14 Feb tedfriedman Fun reliving the #Grammys via west coasters’ tape-delayed tweets. Ah, we were so young & naive back then, 3 hours ago. #IMR 14 Feb tvoti Todd VanDerWerff If I was Cee-Lo Green, I think I’d have trouble … Continue reading →

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Pop Music Week on In Media Res [Updated through Friday]

Posted on February 7, 2011 by

This week the digital humanities journal In Media Res will be posting a series of short pieces I organized on pop music. All the contributors are old  friends who worked with me in college on the zine Nadine. Today some … Continue reading →

Posted in Centaur Manifesto, Commons, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Ideology, Lists, Music, Myth, Social Media, Sound, Ted, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ted’s Movie Database

Posted on January 21, 2011 by

The complete Ted’s Movie Database, featuring the Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead rating system, is now back online. It’s part of the new Lists section, which includes year-end Top 10s and decade-end Top 50s, syllabi, comprehensive exam reading lists, … Continue reading →

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Ted’s Top Movies of 2010

Posted on January 20, 2011 by

My movie rankings have used the DTMTBD system ever since I first unveiled it in the  fanzine Nadine in 1992. I keep a complete database of every movie I’ve seen using Movie Collector by collectorz.com, sorted by year and DTMTBD … Continue reading →

Posted in Centaur Manifesto, Comics, Commons, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Ideology, Lists, Movies, Myth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

GSU Film 4810: Media and Popular Culture Syllabus

Posted on January 20, 2011 by

Media and Popular Culture Film 4810, Spring 2011 Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45, Aderhold 303 Office: 738 One Park Place South Email: ted3k@me.com    Twitter: http://twitter.com/tedfriedman Website: http://tedfriedman.com/teaching Popular culture is often described as “escapist” entertainment. But this dismissal evades some very … Continue reading →

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Ted’s Top Podcasts of 2010

Posted on January 11, 2011 by

1. Bill Simmons, The BS Report 2. Marc Maron, What the Fuck 3. Jeffrey Kripal, Impossible Talk 4. Masterworks Broadway Podcast Theatre 5. Terri Gross, Fresh Air 6. John Hodgman, Judge John Hodgman 7. Robert X. Cringely, I, Cringely 8. … Continue reading →

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Ted’s Top 50 TV Shows of the 2000s

Posted on January 9, 2011 by

Originally posted December 29, 2009 This was the decade in which TV became America’s most exciting creative medium. When the most compelling auteurs were not filmmakers, but showrunners like Joss Wheedon, David Simon, David Chase and Matthew Weiner. When fandom … Continue reading →

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Ted’s Top 50 Movies of the 2000s

Posted on January 9, 2011 by

Originally posted December 29, 2009. As I argue here, this has been the decade of fantasy film, led by Pan’s Labrynth, Lord of the Rings, and Spirited Away. It’s also marked the return of ribald comedy, led by the auteur … Continue reading →

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Ted’s Top 50 Comics of the 2000s

Posted on January 9, 2011 by

Originally posted December 30, 2009 This was a mixed decade for comics. On the one hand, superhero comics rebounded from the “grim and gritty” cliches of the 1990s to newfound creative relevance, thanks largely to the savvy of Marvel Editor-in-Chief … Continue reading →

Posted in Buddhism, Carl Jung, Cats, Centaur Manifesto, Comics, Commons, Cultural Studies, Fantasy, Ideology, Lists, Myth, Play, Science Fiction, Ted | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Ted’s Top 50 Albums of the 2000s

Posted on January 9, 2011 by

Originally Posted December 31, 2009 Music became less and less important to me over the course of this decade. At the beginning of the 2000s, I was still dabbling in professional rock criticism; by its end, I was having trouble … Continue reading →

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Ted’s Top 50 Songs of the 2000s

Posted on January 9, 2011 by

Originally posted December 31, 2009 This has been the hardest of all my lists to put together. With the death of Top 40 radio and of music on MTV, it’s become harder and harder to recapture the rush of discovering a … Continue reading →

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Ted’s Top 50 Books of the 2000s

Posted on January 9, 2011 by

Originally posted January 06, 2010 OK, here’s one more end-of-decade list, a few days belated. I wasn’t planning on covering books, because I wasn’t sure how to combine fiction, journalism, memoir, history, biography, sports, gardening, cooking, and everything else into … Continue reading →

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