Welcome...and initial guidelines...

This blog will be used in the spring of 2008 by 80+ students at Drexel University to investigate the effects of Iraq on culture and the reverse. Our goal will be to better understand why the US is in Iraq, and to question whether literature can help us on this journey.

Weekly plans and other materials will always be posted in Vista, not this blog. So go to Bb Vista to get the discussion prompts and other instructions.

I intend this blog to manage our discussions and track our collective investigation.

You should have received an email from me inviting you to become a contributor to this blog. The email was sent Monday afternoon to your official Drexel email address.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Iraq's Effect on Pop Culture

I was reading an article today and it was saying how "there are more military shows being made in the next five years than were made in the past twenty." Iraq has worked its way into many existing shows. Iraq was the setting for "ER" during two episodes. One of the main characters of "Las Vegas" was called to serve in the war. In 2005, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" rebuilt the home of a family who lost a soldier in Operation Iraqi Freedom during the opening days of the war. Shows like "Arrested Development" and "Days of Our Lives" also featured war based plotlines. Lifetime television has a show moving on to its second season called "Armywives." The show is the most successful series the network has ever had. FX created a new show that follows a group of soldiers in Iraq called "Over There." Movies started to take on war themes as well. Between 2006 and now several movies have been released dealing with Iraq and the Middle East including "Home of the Brave", "Lions for Lambs", "Rendition", "The Kingdom", "Redacted", "In the Valley of Elah", and most recently "Stop-Loss." Though many of the movies were not as successful in the box office as anticipated, war continues to be a hot topic in its effect on pop culture and entertainment.

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