Spring 2021
UNHL 3999-003: Special Topics in Honors and Leadership: Gender, Art, and Popular Music: In their book Glitter up the Dark, music writer Sasha Geffen argues that pop music “broke” the gender binary, tracking the queer appeal of The Beatles in the 1960s on through the tech-assisted, non-binary expressions of artists like Arca today. Interestingly, both The Beatles’ and Arca’s careers as musicians—full of collaborations with visual and performance artists—also exemplify ways in which musicians have been blurring the lines between art and music as well as the gender binary in these decades. In this class, we will analyze the interconnectedness of visual art, popular music, and gender issues since the 1960s through a study of traditional “fine arts,” graphic design, performance, film, and music videos.