Beyond Reviews: Writing Pop Culture Personal Essays

Everyone consumes culture. Movies, TV shows, Netflix streams, music, Kardashians—the best and the worst of pop is the backdrop to our everyday lives. Pop culture reflects where we are as a society, and when it changes we change; and when we change, it’s forced to evolve as well. It’s easy to see why pop culture writing has become such a widespread and powerful style. The shift of publication from traditional print to online journals, coupled with the proliferation of media in our daily lives, has created a proliferation of sites dedicated to strong personal essays with pop culture themes.

This class is recommended for students who are currently working on writing personal essays, or have written essays in the past and are diving back into the form. Any level of essay-writing experience is fine, from personal essay blog posts on up to published work.

In this class, we’ll discover:

- What a pop culture essay is, and how it differs from traditional personal essays and media reviews

- Examples of outstanding pop culture essay writing, and what we can learn from these accomplished writers

- Considerations and tips for pitching and publishing pop culture essays to editors

• Intro to Pop Culture Writing
• Project Overview: Writing a Pop Culture Response
• Connecting to Pop Culture: Plots and Characters
• Essay #1: Elizabeth Ellen's "By the Sea" Review
• Essay #2: Mallory Ortberg's "Big Bang Theory" Essay
• Essay #3: Tabitha Blankenbiller's "Sailor Moon/Star Wars" Essay
• Tips on Publishing Pop Culture Writing
• Final Thoughts