TLDR: This isn’t what it looks like. This is actually a course about recent pop culture, and how celebrity worship can become a “cult.”
I saw this on YouTube today, and was intrigued. I saw many comments about how this is why people laugh at the American education system – and while our education system is 100% laughable, the explanation of the article actually gave this unusual course some academic merit.
There’s the official explanation, but let’s break it down a little.
This isn’t a weird fandom worship of Harry Styles.
This is actually a course on how pop-culture can formulate a cult-like mentality, and how that mentality impacts the social mechanics of society. It explores how the actions of a celebrity have impacted a society that revolves around social-media. In this particular course, they’ve decided to focus on one specific example.
Just like how English teachers would have their students analyze Beatles lyrics to increase their skills in literary analysis, this is an analysis on Harry Styles to increase understanding of how celebrities on social media make an impact on our modern society – which gives a reflection of cultural history in the past decade or so.
Enough experts clearly feel that Harry Styles’ music and activism has made a significant enough impact on how social media and stardom influences on people. This makes him an “case study.”
I do not say this with any admiration, I am simply saying this as fact: Ted Bundy changed the world forever.
He shed a massive spotlight on a meticulous type of killer that was previously not well understood. He taught society that your community might not be as safe as one might think, and strengthened the concept of “stranger danger.” He taught law enforcement the flaws in their system, which allowed him to escape prison twice. There were many horrible, and tragic lessons that were learned from this wretched man.
His favorite color has no educational value, but his decisions, words, and personality when he was NOT killing people is incredibly significant psychologically, and even historically. A course about Ted Bundy is simply studying the door that he opened into the sick and twisted world of serial killers.
Yes, this course is focused specifically on the life and times of Harry Styles, but it’s not about the man himself – it’s about how the words and actions of this man influenced a certain demographic of people.
So don’t freak out! This particular course isn’t a sign of the total regression of America (though there are other glaring examples of that). This is not about how to be the ultimate Harry Styles fan. This is a course about his cultural, historical, and social-psychological impact on a society that centers around social media.
I actually find this fascinating, and would take it myself if I was able to.