Don't forget to do your hometwerk.
This summer, Skidmore College will offer a course called "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender, and Media." The class will consider the Miley zeitgeist as a "lens through which to explore sociological thinking about identity, entertainment, media, and fame."
If you attend Skidmore, you have no excuse not to enroll in course. If you're a current college student who doesn't attend Skidmore, transfer immediately, then enroll in this course. To sweeten the deal, we've assembled five paper topics guaranteed to get you through midterms — and possibly into a peer-reviewed academic journal.
1. Can the modern woman overcome the dichotomy of female identity (virgin/whore) posited in Hannah Montana, or is this fracture irreconcilable?
2. Rank the following former child stars in order of the extent to which the onset of their secondary sex characteristics affected the global economy: Miley Cyrus, Corey Feldman, Anna Paquin, Michael Jackson, Lark Voorhies, Britney Spears, Emma Watson, Macaulay Culkin, Jodie Foster, Justin Timberlake. Explain your answer.
3. Does Miley's tongue signify an unapologetic adult sexuality, or a regression to the oral fixation of infancy, when "mouthing" constitutes the child's sole means of understanding her world?
4. At exactly what point does the respectful, earnest embrace of hip-hop culture devolve into a demeaning, fetishized minstrel show? (You may submit a timestamp from Miley's 2013 VMAs performance in lieu of an essay.)
5. Miley Cyrus recently simulated fellatio on a dancer dressed as Bill Clinton on stage. In the years since Clinton first signed it into law in 1996, what criticisms have been levied against the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act's implicit attitudes towards minorities and women?
Images via Instagram.
