British Popular Culture of the 1990s

Course content

The last decade of the twentieth century is among the most recognisable eras in British popular culture. It was marked by the global success of boy and girl groups, such as Take That and the Spice Girls, alongside Britpop bands such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp, and popular UK film productions, including Trainspotting, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones’ Diary.

The literary market saw the rise of popular ‘chicklit’ and ‘ladlit, while celebrity culture reached new heights – with the death of Princess Diana as one of the defining events of the decade. Meanwhile, fashion trends drew on subcultural styles from grunge to hip hop, and iconic 90s accessories such as choker necklaces and crop tops have since made comebacks. Bookended, politically, by the demise of Thatcherism at one end of the decade and the war on terror at the other, the nineties saw the rise of New Labour and the devolution of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, among other social developments.

In this course, we will critically analyse selected examples of nineties’ British pop culture and the hype around ‘Cool Britannia’ from a Cultural Studies-informed perspective. We will discuss gender performances in the context of post-feminism, and address how literature, the music industry, films, and fashion trends reflected social, national and ethnic identities. Students are expected to actively contribute to the syllabus. Please bear in mind that the course, despite its focus on popular media, will still feature extensive reading assignments of primary and secondary texts.