SOC 253 / HP 253 Elvis Presley and the American Dream

Prerequisite: ENG 101 , SOC 101 OR permission of the instructor
3 credits

This course will examine the life and influence of the cultural icon who, more than any public figure of the 20th century, embodies the racial, sexual, generational, historical and cultural tensions that had been fomenting for years but exploded with unexpected force across the American landscape of the 1950s. With a musical style and public persona that presaged the new social realities of the times, Elvis Presley was both prophet and pariah a musical cross over who blended the sacred and profane, and epitomized in his music, his films, his life, and his death, both the best and the worst of what America was and is. *An additional, in-depth research paper will be required of all Honors students taking this course. Not offered every semester