This course examines Twentieth Century Britain through the lens of popular culture and how it reflected and was shaped by larger political and social events, from two world wars to sexual revolution, from Britain s peak of colonial power to its continuing decline in the age of Brexit. What role does film, TV, music, fashion, and literature play in giving a voice to working class and youth culture? We ll also incorporate 21st century pop culture (for example, costume dramas like Downton Abbey ) to look back at this history and how we romanticize the past. How do programs like The Great British Bake-Off and Royal events from weddings, births, and funerals keep nostalgia for the monarchy alive, while also recognizing the nation s evolution as a multiracial, democratic society? How does British popular culture address notions of identity and what it means to be British in the 20th-21st centuries?