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Maymester Courses
HUMN 3104: Film Criticism and Theory
Ernesto Acevedo-Mu帽oz
This course surveys and engages with the major film theories. It also examines the role and function of film criticism. 麻豆淫院 will screen at least one film each week, read pertinent theoretical and critical writings, participate insightfully in discussions, and write analytically and creatively about topics discussed and gestured toward in class.听Same as FILM 3104.
HUMN 3660: Postmodern
David Ferris
This course will examine the event of the Postmodern and its effect within literature, film, architecture, culture, and critical theory. Beginning with works that signal and examine the onset of modernity, the consequences of postmodernity for our understanding of the modern as a sign of our intellectual, cultural, and social progress will be presented. Once defined in relation to the modern, our attention will turn to the problems and issues posed by the postmodern with respect to history, perception, and the concept of an era that is also our present. We will also examine various recent attempts to think beyond the postmodern. The course will include a broad selection of works from architectural theory to performance art.
HUMN 3702: Dada and Surrealist Literature
Patrick Greaney
Surveys the major theoretical concepts and literary genres of the Dada and Surrealist movements.听 Topics include Dada performance and cabaret, the manifesto, montage, the readymade, the Surrealist novel, colonialism and the avant-garde, and literary and philosophical precursors to the avant-garde.听 Taught in English.听听Same as GRMN 3702. 听Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
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Term A Courses
HUMN 4093: Advanced Topics in the Humanities: The Criminal As Hero
Paul Gordon
In this comparative, interdisciplinary course we will examine Freud鈥檚,听Nietzsche鈥檚, and other theories of criminality and apply those to the study of a number of films and literary works which focus on heroic figures who are also, paradoxically, criminals. In addition to Nietzsche (The Gay Science)听and Freud (鈥淐haracter-Types Met in Psychoanalytical Work鈥�), other works to be studied include:听Antigone,听Macbeth,听Notes from Underground,听A Good Man is Hard to Find听(Flannery O鈥機onner),听The Stranger, and听The Executioner鈥檚 Song.听 Films include Herzog鈥檚听Aguirre the Wrath of God, and the films of Scorsese (Taxi Driver,听Cape Fear, etc).
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Term B Courses
HUMN 4004: Topics in Film Theory
Ernesto Acevedo-Mu帽oz
By far the most successful brand name in film history, the 鈥淛ames Bond 007鈥� movies created by Harry Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli can be considered an essential example of the reliability of formula and the adaptability of generic forms. The series offers a case study in the cultural politics of Western cinemas in general, and genre in particular, and the cinema鈥檚 relation to history and society. We will concentrate on the films鈥� treatment and re-invention of issues such as the Cold War, the sexual revolution, gender politics, feminism, racism, and technological developments. Amidst changing historical and cultural frameworks, the improbable hero invented by Ian Fleming in 1953 remains adaptable and an example of the capability of 鈥渃lassic鈥� genre forms to evolve and address shifting social anxieties and historical contexts. Readings will include scholarly works on the history and cultural politics of the 鈥淛ames Bond鈥� movies, writings on genre theory and film history, contemporary reviews, memoirs, Fleming novels and short stories, and other materials. The purpose of this course is to explore a popular cinema phenomenon from a theoretical and political perspective and to deconstruct its conventions, significance, and re-thinking of culture, history, narrative, ideology, and genre itself. Same as FILM-4004.