I promised my students some general ideas for their paper proposals…

I made all of the ideas focus around the cartoon “The Venture Brothers” on Adult Swim, just to avoid any conflicts with any of their potential topics. The course is “Introduction to Popular Culture,” and focuses on many different analytical approaches to cultural studies.

The Office of Secret Intelligence and the Guild of Calamitous Intent– Repressive and Ideological State Apparatus in The Venture Brothers

The Persuasion of Society and the Creation of the Villain – Rusty Venture as Bad Guy and Dr. Killinger as Hegemony.

Dr. Girlfriend and the Gender Binary – Desired Beauty, A Husky Voice, and Moves that Kill

The Failures of Masculinity – Realism and Variety in the Representation of Man in the Cast of The Venture Brothers

The Military Industrial Complex in Cartoons – The Ethics of Science with the Dr. Venture Brothers and the Battle for Military Contracts

Shoreleave and The Alchemist – Representations of Homosexual Men in The Venture Brothers

Quality is Key – How The Venture Brothers Rejects Adult Swim’s Mass Production and the Industry of Culture

The Politics of Baldness – Hair and Success in the Manifestations of Dr. Rusty Venture

“That isn’t a lunchbox” – The Goth Authenticity of Triana and Kim on The Venture Brothers

Some of them could use snappier titles, but I’ll settle. Maybe some day I will write one of these.

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