Italian Popular Culture: Music, Media, and Society

This course explores contemporary Italian society through a cultural studies lens, tracing developments from the post-World War II era to the digital age. Focusing on popular media, it examines how television, music, film, and social media content reflect and interact with social identities, political debates, and everyday cultural practices across decades. Students engage with cinema and TV programs (talk shows, series, social documentaries, and commercials), hit songs and musical movements (from cantautori to indie scenes), and viral digital media phenomena. Through media analysis, case studies, and collaborative projects, students investigate how popular culture mirrors Italy's social transformations, while strengthening advanced Italian language skills and tools for interpreting today's Italy.