OC 101

In college, I took what I assume is the coolest class offered at any university, ever:  an entire class about The Beatles.  There have been other pop-culture classes offered at various schools on The Simpsons, Buffy, Frank Zappa, and The Sopranos.  But now Duke has raised the bar by offering a class on the greatest show in television history, The OC.  (Thanks to Tradd for the link.)  According to the article, the name of the class is "California Here We Come: The O.C. & Self-Aware Culture of 21st Century America," and it "aims to explore the 'hyper self-awareness' unique to The O.C. and analyze Californian exceptionalism and singularity in history and popular culture, girl culture, 21st century suburban revivalism, the indie music scene, the meta-series, and more."  Clearly, this is the best thing to ever come out of Duke.

Given that I have seen every episode of The OC and that I tend to overanalyze pretty much everything, I feel like I would thrive in this class.  In response to the article, one of my friends said, "The final is who would you rather bang: Marissa or Summer? Explain in detail what you would do and why."  This, of course, is a trick question because Marissa is dead.

Here are some possible lecture or essay topics I've thought of:

Sandy Cohen:  Greatest TV dad ever?

"Out on the streets for a living":  Ryan Atwood as an urban demigod hero who could pretty much kill anyone

OC can you sing?:  Popular music as a narrative device.

"Welcome to The OC, bitch":  Latent homosexuality and the contemporary water polo player.

Chrismukkah:  The new Festivus.

Caleb Nichol vs. Jimmy Cooper:  Lessons in Southern Californian business ethics

When killing off main characters goes wrong.

Dean Hess:  What an asshole.

"Er Yaw Sireus? Thaht's sew lahm":  How Kaitlin Cooper teaches our children to speak like fucking morons.

Here's Johnny's body:  Why no one is sad when kids with terrible hair die.

The Seth Cohenization of modern nerds in popular culture.

The world is a vampire:  Volchok, rape, and cocaine's impact on amateur surfing.

Seriously, what the fuck happened to Teresa and the child she had with Ryan?

"Gay dad trumps slutty mom":  The OC's impact on how we view our parents.

Summer of '69:  Summer Roberts as an allegory for the flower power movement.

"Candle wax, tube socks, and the new Fiona Apple CD":  What Taylor Townsend teaches us about sexuality in the new millennium.

I strongly encourage you to submit your suggested lecture and essay topics in the comments.  God, I miss The OC.