Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
6-2025
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Liberal Studies
Advisor
Karen Miller
Subject Categories
American Film Studies | American Popular Culture | Cultural History | Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory | Other Music | Performance Studies
Abstract
David Byrne is a multimedia artist known primarily as the lead singer and main songwriter for the new wave band Talking Heads. Throughout Byrne’s career he has continually written about America and Americans. This thesis traces his writings about America from the beginning of Talking Heads to his most recent projects. In doing so, the thesis puts forward that Byrne’s opinion on America has changed from one that is centered on the American people to one that is instead focused on American institutions. Additionally, the thesis traces how Byrne’s work has evolved from idealization to realism, as his early work views the current America as the way it will always be, but his more recent work instead focuses on the ways that America can grow. This thesis fills a gap of scholarly analysis of Byrne’s work, piecing together the popular and the academic in a pursuit of how Byrne’s American utopia has formed in his creative life.
Recommended Citation
Prince, Morgan A., "American Utopia: The Evolution of David Byrne’s Viewpoint of America from 1977 to Present" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6236
Included in
American Film Studies Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Cultural History Commons, Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons, Other Music Commons, Performance Studies Commons
