Sex, Power, God

This course will also consider shifting notions of sex, power, and god that represent the increasingly complex relationship between identity, knowledge, and media in the modern era as we explore the concurrent changes in the social, political, and economic systems that made it possible for millions to worship the massive media culture icons of the 20th century: the Disney princess, First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and Princess Diana. By exploring these changes in the works of scholars like Tim Wu and Bernard Harcourt we will gain a deeper sense of contemporary sexual politics in “expository society” as we determine the criteria for evaluating the success of the modern celebrity. Finally, we will consider how the celebrity reality tv industrial-complex shifts notions of sex, power, and god by exploring the emergence of icons “famous for being famous” in the 21st century whose command of attention and social influence in the digital age represents power, capital, and divine myth befitting a queen: Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian West.