Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2025 - LBST 320 B100

Labour and Popular Culture: Class, Politics, and Pop Culture (3)

Class Number: 5294

Delivery Method: Blended

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Wed, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Instructor:

    John-Henry Harter
    jhharter@sfu.ca
    1 778 782-7693
    Office: AQ 6083
    Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:00 – 2:00 pm, Fridays 12:30 – 1:30 pm and by appointment online.

  • Prerequisites:

    30 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores the representation of the working class in Canada and the United States through popular culture including the mediums of film and television. Students with credit for LBST 330 under the title "Labour and Film" may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course is concerned with the depiction of the working class and labour in popular culture. This semester the focus is on film and television. We will focus on film practices and some of the theoretical perspectives that have emerged to account for them, with emphasis on class.  We will examine Hollywood films as well as independent films and documentaries to see how our ideas about labour, trade unions, and employment have been informed and misinformed by film and film practices. 

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

This course will allow students to learn how to read films, to understand some of the techniques and methods they use to construct meaning. In addition, students will come away with an understanding of how class is framed in film. Since filmmaking is a major industry, we will explore the consequences of having mass, popular, and working-class culture turned into something you buy, rather than something you do. This course will also provide students with the basic vocabulary for understanding concepts in the field of film study (questions of narration, realism, and spectatorship). At the same time, the course examines specific themes in labour studies, through the movies themselves and through the issues, incidents, and events they portray.

Grading

  • Participation 15%
  • Reading Notes 20%
  • Midterm Exam 35%
  • Film Critique 30%

NOTES:

Grading System:

Where a final exam is scheduled and the student does not write the exam or withdraws from the course before the deadline date, an N grade will be assigned. Unless otherwise specified on the course syllabus, all graded assignments for this course must be completed for a final grade other than N to be assigned. An N is considered as an F for the purposes of scholastic standing.

The undergraduate course grading system is A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F, N (N standing indicates student did not complete course requirements). Intervals for the assignment of final letter grades based on course percentage grades are as follows:         

A+          95-100                                                 C+          65-69

A             90-94                                                   C            60-64

A-           85-89                                                   C-           55-59

B+          80-84                                                   D            50-54

B             75-79                                                   F             0-49

B-           70-74                                                   N*

*N standing to indicate the student did not complete course requirements

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

John Storey, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction Storey Tenth edition. Routledge. 2024.

(The library ordered the eBook and educational access for this textbook. Link below)

https://sfu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/15tu09f/01SFUL_ALMA51511937900003611


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.