You Can Now Take a Class on All Things Harry Styles

On Saturday, Dr. Louie Dean Valencia, who’s an associate professor of Digital History at Texas State University, took to Twitter to announce that a course he designed, called “Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity,” had been approved by the university’s Honors College as a part of the Spring 2023 curriculum.

The course, which revolves around the singer, will analyze the role of the celebrity in modern society, diving into topics of “gender and sexuality, race, class, nation and globalism, media, fashion, fan culture, internet culture and consumerism.” So basically all the topics.

To do so, they’ll be looking at Styles' musical work both as a solo act and as a part of One Direction. They’ll also be diving into Harry Styles’ acting work in Dunkirk and in the upcoming queer romance My Policeman.

Related | Swifties, Class Is In Session

Valencia told NBC New York in an interview, “This class came out of research that I started when locked at home during the summer of 2020 listening to Harry’s music. When I couldn’t travel to do my regular research, I started researching Harry — focusing on his art, the ways masculinity has changed in the last decade, celebrity culture and the internet.” We here at PAPER were also doing similar “research,” but you probably couldn’t call it Honors College worthy...

If you want to hear what he’s gathered in his research, you’ll have to be one of the first in line for the notoriously tough game of registering for university classes, as the cap will be at 20 students.

Valencia is hoping that Styles himself will take a seat in the class for a day, telling NBC New York that it would be his “dream to have Harry show up to class (or just Zoom) — but I understand how busy he is.” Valencia tweeted out today that he’s had an influx of people messaging him since announcing the course, and that he’s prioritizing a message from the “Watermelon Sugar” singer above everyone else.

In the name of “education,” let’s hope Styles responds and goes from “Late Night Talking” to “School Day Teaching.”

Photo via Getty/ Handout/ Helene Marie Pambrun