Upset by the dominance of American pop music and movies, the French grant a multimillion dollar subsidy to the most expensive French movie ever made. The plot? Plucky Gauls (in horned hats and hides) fight off cultural invasion. China welcomes Mulan but would have preferred Mickey Mouse. The Iranian Parliament bans the word "sandwich"; McDonald's opens in Moscow to a waiting line of hundreds. Bombs go off in a Planet Hollywood restaurant in Cape Town. If Americans notice these events, they respond either by pointing out that cultural restrictions are not only antidemocratic but also thinly disguised economic protectionism, or by feeling embarrassed and guilty over the power of their trashy culture-or both. Yet small-town Americans, as Emily Thorson points out, often react with the same outrage to a proposed new Walmart. This seminar will focus on the (alleged) phenomenon of cultural imperialism, exploring its nature, its extent, its effects, its mechanisms, its variety, and its defensibility. Format: seminar. Requirements: four papers, class participation. No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 18. (Restricted to first- and second-year students.)