You can now major in Harry and minor in Styles. Here’s how.
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What’s so alluring about Harry Styles is he doesn’t say much, yet he continually surprises you. We can never gauge what he’s fully thinking, only by how he acts. The world studies him with magnifying glass waiting for his next step, whether it be what he wears, where he is about to perform, or what movie he is about to star in. He’s a phenomenon and his songs are proof of it. And now, you can contemplate the phenomenon that is Harry Styles and the meaning of his song “As It Was” through the comfort of a classroom.
More specifically, Texas State University recently announced they are offering a course on Harry Styles for its honors college, titling it “Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity: Identity, the Internet, and European Pop Culture.” So, maybe you won’t dig up the meaning of his songs every day, but the course isn’t just an easy pass either.
The course description says that the class will analyze Styles through the questions of gender and sexuality, race, class, nation and globalism, media, fashion, fan culture, internet culture, and consumerism. Through the questions, the class hopes to understand the cultural and political development of the modern celebrity, Harry Styles.
Texas State University professor, Louie Dean Valencia, told CNN, “I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with students over the last two years that started with a shared love of Harry’s music, but that quickly went into larger societal questions about gender, sexuality, race, gun control, sustainability because of Harry’s art.” Valencia’s statement only proves how Styles has developed since his One Direction days. It confirms that the pop star is another lens we can use to look at the world, like The Beatles or even Shakespeare.
Valencia continued to tell CNN that the course material will include One Direction’s early albums to Styles’ solo albums, film appearances, and also the art that inspires Styles, including Susan Sontag’s writings and Alain De Botton’s philosophy.
The associate professor announced the class for the spring of 2023.
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