Current Courses
Summer 2022 Film Courses
 ITA 335, Italian Cinema: The City as a Set: Films and Locations in Rome and Naples, section 710
Instructor: Matteo Benassi
Study Abroad, Italy
An analysis of the social, aesthetic, political, and rhetorical implications of cinematic representations of Rome and Naples, from the Fascist period to the present. This course will discuss seven primary films, along with excerpts from a few others. We will consider the following main topics: Images of Ancient Rome; Before and After World War II; Fellini’s Rome; "Americans" in Rome and Rome in America; and Urban Angst, Neapolitan Style. We will consider how Rome and Naples function as a "character" in the movies, as well as how “The Eternal City” comprises the mise¬ en ¬scène. We will assess the artistic representations of Roman and Neapolitan monuments and streetscapes on movie sets, as opposed to location shooting. Students will visit cinematic landmarks in Rome and Naples, including the legendary Cinetittà studios in Rome. Taught in English. May be repeated up to 6 credits with a different subtitle. No prerequisites. UK Core Requirement: Global Dynamics
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Fall 2022 Film Courses
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GWS 201, Gender and Popular Culture, section 202
Instructor: Aria Halliday (Section 202)
TR 11:00am-12:15pm (online; synchronous)
Applies to requirements for undergraduate GWS majors and minors.This course examines the role of popular culture in the construction of gendered identities in contemporary society. We examine a wide range of popular cultural forms -- including music, computer games, movies, and television -- to illustrate how femininity and masculinity are produced, represented, and consumed. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities
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 ENG 280, Intro to Film, sections 001-005Instructor: Pearl James
MW 1-1:50, Friday varies (either 12:00-12:50, 1:00-1:50, or 2:00-2:50)
An introduction to the study of films as narrative art and cultural documents. The course involves viewing and analyzing films from different genres and investigating a unified theme or set of topics. Students will learn how to view films closely, how to relate films to their contexts, and how to employ the basic terms and concepts of film analysis. Attention will be paid to student writing, particularly to devising a thesis, crafting an argument, and learning how to use supporting evidence. Viewing films outside of class is required. Offers UK Core credit for Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities. We will ask: How do films tell stories and convey meaning? What kinds of visual and narrative impact do different aspects of the medium—color, sound, lighting, character, and so on—have on our impressions, emotions, and understanding? Beginning with these formal questions, we will develop a common vocabulary for analyzing films. We will study films from a range of periods, nations, and genres and consider how the art of filmmaking has changed over time. We will go on to ask cultural questions, including the one posed by critic David Denby: “Do movies have a future?” Do recent changes in how movies are delivered (digitally) and marketed (globally) threaten the tradition of film as an artform? Are films status as financial commodities degrading their value as art? Note: section 005 is reserved for students in the Lewis Honors College. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities
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 JPN 283, Japanese Film, section 001
Instructor: Miyabi Goto
TR 2:00-3:15
TThis course examines film to explore the transformations wrought in the post-1945 (re)construction of Japan. Introducing canonical auteurs (e.g., Ozu, Mizoguchi, Iwai, Koreeda) and surveying major genres (e.g., melodrama, thriller, horror, monster), the course engages film that offer a diverse range of perspectives on Japan's historical development. The primary question that the course aims to investigate is: How did film respond to, question, criticize the world surrounding it, and/or possibly anticipate what to come, in the post-1945 Japanese context? No prior knowledge of Japan is required.
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 GWS 301, Crossroads: Barbie & Other Material Girls, section 201
Instructor: Aria Halliday
First 8 weeks; asynchronous (fully online)
This is a new course that encourages you to think deeply about the lessons we learn from “feminine” pop culture topics and figures like Barbie, Cinderella, pageants, beauty culture, and rom-coms. We will focus on issues related to gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality; access to popular films like Miss Congeniality, Clueless, and Dumplin’ will be required. UK Core: Community, Culture and Citizenship in the United States
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 HON 301, Honors Advanced Seminar: Science and Ethics on Film, section 006Instructor: Sara Rosenthal TR 2:00-3:15 This 3-credit course uses a variety of films (some documentaries) to examine core research ethics, scientific integrity and societal issues in the history of science across several STEM disciplines. The course covers key scientific figures, consequential studies or discoveries spanning several fields of inquiry. The course includes films about women in STEM as well as race and research. Students will screen a different film each week and take turns leading class discussions on each film. Additional readings and written assignments will complement the film selections for this course. |
 GER 305, German Film Today, section 001
Instructor: Nels J Rogers
MWF 1:00 - 1:50
This course explores filmmaking in the German-speaking countries in the 21st century. It is an introduction to the understanding and interpretation of films produced in specific national contexts outside of what is commonly referred to as Hollywood. Our examination will have two parts. An introduction to interpretative strategies used to understand feature length films as one of the dominant modes of storytelling and mythmaking in the contemporary world. And an on-going discussion of the many ways in which issues related to nationality, history, culture, language, and global economics have influenced filmmaking in Germany & Austria. We will view, analyze, compare, discuss, and interpret a representative sampling of contemporary films "made in Germany" while questioning and exploring the very designation German in the context of globalized media markets. UK Core: Dynamics, Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities
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 WRD 312, Introduction to Documentary, section 001
Instructor: Thomas A Marksbury
TR 2:00-3:15
This course is designed to investigate the enormous variety of creative approaches the documentary form can tale, and to enable you to make a short documentary for yourself. We begin with the work of others—Spike Lee, Werner Herzog, Barbara Kopple, Errol Morris, Agnes Varda, the Maysles brothers, Banksy, and more—and shift from analysis to pre-production shooting, and final edit of a five-minute project of your own. (No previous experience with film making required.) Along the way we’ll consider several documentary subgenres and hybrids—the essay (Nostalgia for the Light), the autobiography (Tarnation), the portrait of the artist (I Am Not Your Negro), true crime (The Jinx), the mockumentary (Confederate States of America) and the polemic (Why We Fight). Learn a little about the world and a lot about yourself. Lively class discussion, two exams, final project. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry Arts & Creativity
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 FR 325, French Cinema: French Leading Lady, section 001
Instructor: Jeorg E Sauer
MWF 12:00-12:50
The French Leading Lady: This course will examine the idea of the "French leading lady" and the films the actresses have starred in. Course discussions will look to contextualize the actresses representation as subject/object as well as their stardom in France and internationally. Students will gain an understanding of film technique and criticism. Course is taught entirely in French. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours with a different subtitle. Prereq: FR 204
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ITA 335, Topics in Italian Cinema: Those Strangers Among Us, section 001
Instructor: Matteo Benassi
MWF 12:00-12:50
The purpose of this course is to explore the concept of diversity in modern and contemporary globalized society through the medium of film. Societies are becoming or have become already rapidly globalized; barriers are erected and demolished all the time and physical borders bear less and less weight. Filmmakers explore these changes through the medium of cinema, a medium that we can consider the fastest response unit of modern intellectuals, for that intrinsic bond between thought and the eye and the double track of vision and observation. Our starting point will be some very recent Italian cinematography (going back to the early 2000s) that we shall use to study the concept of being foreign and/or different, inside a society. The exploration of global phenomena in Italy will be then used to reach a more general meaning through the comparison between Italian and American society.
The range of movies will vary in genre from comedy to drama to the thriller; the different genres and stories will parallel the construction of the plot in movies and the construction of personal opinion in matters of diversity. Our class discussions and movie screenings will be supported and completed by readings that will help us better understand the concepts and the political and socio-historical context, and by close watching of cinematic techniques, which vehiculates the director point of view. UK Core Requirement: Global Dynamics
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 SPA 372, Spanish Cinema, sections 001-002
Instructor: Carmen Moreno-Nuño
MWF 12:00-12:50
An introduction to the analysis and interpretation of cinema in general and Spanish cinema in particular. Open to majors and non-majors. The course will focus on films from the Spanish schools of cinema which will be studied in their social, political and cultural context and introduce students to basic critical vocabulary. Viewing of films (with English subtitles) outside of class is required. Class lectures in English; discussion sections in English or Spanish depending on the language ability of the student. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities
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 ENG 384, Literature and Film, section 001Instructor: Emily Shortslef TR 2:00-3:15 Few writers have had their work adapted for the screen as frequently as Shakespeare. In this class we’ll read five Shakespearean plays alongside some of their many film versions. What are the different ways in which filmmakers translate 400-year- old texts into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? How does film compare to theatrical drama as a medium? What does it mean to “adapt” a play? Why does Shakespeare continue to be relevant to contemporary filmmakers and audiences? This course will introduce students to Shakespeare’s work in its historical and dramatic contexts; foster the development of a critical vocabulary and set of strategies for analyzing drama and film; and help students to develop close reading and critical writing skills. Assignments will include short papers and a final exam. |
WRD 410, Rhetoric and Popular Culture: Better Living Through Criticism, section 002
Instructor: Thomas Marksbury MWF 9:00-9:50 A hybrid of reading, viewing, and listening, culminating in a workshop which is aimed to generate your own cultural criticism. The very word “criticism” has degenerated into almost a pejorative, evoking either the arcane and academic or the vaguely belligerent. More than ever, we depend on popular platforms for information, feedback and evaluation of what films, music, television we ought to be consuming. The phrase “everybody’s a critic” has become almost the literal truth—there are more opinions floating around than ever, but in the midst of all this democracy no one seems to be critiquing he critics. Our aims are threefold: 1) to think about what a critical state of mind really is, to cultivate that stance in terms of everyday living, not just the art we enjoy but fasion, sports, food, etc.; 2) to study the work of previous cultural critics in order to appreciate the range and depth of possibilities, approaches, strategies, --and maybe to uncover some fresh new ones; 3) to produce our own criticism, looking into various modes with various methods in order to write (and here that verb covers a number of modalities, including film) responses to various texts. The more varied the better. Expect lots of different readings and viewings, lively discussion, and know that you will emerge with a portfolio of critical writing you can call your own. |
 FR 504, La Nouvelle Vague/New Wave Cinema
Instructor: Leon Sachs
R 3:30-6:00
This course introduces students to the mid-twentieth-century "revolution" in French cinema known as the New Wave. In addition to studying the major works of French filmmakers such as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, and Agnès Varda, students will read landmark essays that helped define the movement. Among the questions we will explore are the following: How did New Wave filmmakers distinguish themselves from the "cinéma de qualité" (or "Daddy's cinema") that preceded them? In what ways can New Wave film be understood as a form of writing? What is the “caméra stylo”? What is meant by "auteur" cinema? What is the lasting legacy of New Wave cinema? Taught in French.
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ENG 180, GREAT MOVIES: Stories we Love, sections 001-004
ENG 180, GREAT MOVIES: Cheap Thrills: Low Budget Hits, sections 005, 006
Spring 2022 Film Courses
African American & Africana Studies |
 AAAS 400 SPECIAL TOPICS IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN & AFRICANA STUDIES: Hip Hop Feminisims (Cross-listed with GWS 301, below. Check for seats in the other section if one is full.)Aria Halliday TR 12:30 AAAS 400/GWS 301: HIP-HOP FEMINISMS is a new course offering that highlights the history of women and gender fluidity within hip-hop since its inception in the late 1970s. Students will learn how hip-hop and feminism have similar concerns and yet provide an opportunity for individual and cultural expression of the oppressed. Students will be able connect music, lyrical analysis, visual culture, and history to understand the ways gender, race, class, sexuality, and a host of other issues are all relevant to contemporary discourses and visual aesthetics in hip-hop global cultures. |
Classics Film Courses |
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Gender and Women's Studies Film Courses |
 GWS 300 001 GENDERED DESIRE IN ROMCOM FILMSJeorg Sauer MWF 1:00
Romcoms as a genre use both romance and comedy as film elements to portray relationship tropes. Over the course of the semester, we will examine and analyze the history of the popular genre, how films portray relationships in different decades, and more specifically what romcoms have to say about gender and desire. This course will situate the critical reception of romcoms as associated with "chick flicks" or a "date movie" and why they are considered unrealistic constructs of love. Some of the questions we will consider during the class are: What can the viewer understand about women's/men's desire?; How do these films construct relationship boundaries?; What conditions are acceptable as the foundation of a relationship?; Are the desires of the women/men met?; How do the answers change when the race and/or sexuality of the main characters are changed? During the semester, students will be expected to view films, review them, analyze sequences while using an appropriate film vocabulary, and write some compositions/scenarios.
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GWS 301 CROSSROADS: Hip Hop Feminisims (Cross-listed with AAAS 400, above. Check for seats in the other section if one is full.) Aria Halliday TR 12:30-1:45 GWS 301/AAAS 400: HIP-HOP FEMINISMS is a new course offering that highlights the history of women and gender fluidity within hip-hop since its inception in the late 1970s. Students will learn how hip-hop and feminism have similar concerns and yet provide an opportunity for individual and cultural expression of the oppressed. Students will be able connect music, lyrical analysis, visual culture, and history to understand the ways gender, race, class, sexuality, and a host of other issues are all relevant to contemporary discourses and visual aesthetics in hip-hop global cultures. UK Core: Community, Culture and Citizenship in US |
German Film Courses |
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GER 361 GERMAN CINEMA
Nels Jeff Rogers
TR 2:00
German 361 examines the history of German cinema in the 20th century. Analyzing representative works, students explore film as a cultural form integral to German culture and society. Issues to be considered include: 1) the relationship between film and traditional art forms, 2) film and national identity, 3) film and history, 4) film and social change. UK Core: Global Dynamics
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English Film Courses |
 ENG 180 001 GREAT MOVIES: Psychological Horror/Thriller
Kevin Bond
MWF 9:00 Psychological horror (PH) is a subgenre of horror with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states. While a typical horror story emphasizes external conflict—a monster, chainsaw murderer, or paranormal entity acting as antagonist—PH tends to focus on the main character's inner conflict and the terror that arises from attacks on the ego. Such films typically incorporate staples like paranoia, lies, and flawed memories—elements that put the audience’s grasp of the narrative to the test just as characters themselves doubt their own perceptions of reality and question their sanity. This introductory course will explore the terminology, technique, and effects of cinema, using PH/thrillers as our lens. We will focus on the choices made by filmmakers in terms of technique, narrative, and style, ultimately setting our sights on how these interact to create a complex sense of meaning. We will also reflect on what accounts for the complex, rich, and dynamic attraction to horror. We will ask: What drives us to watch scary movies? Why is this focus on the darker side of the human psyche that’s often repressed a worthy pursuit for filmmakers? What capabilities of movies make them an effective medium for depicting narratives that unfold like vivid nightmares? Given the disturbing nature of PH/thrillers, most of the films we will watch and discuss will portray content that may be difficult viewing for some. Students should expect to encounter depictions of intense or persistent violence, emotional trauma, and images evoking terror. Regular participation in class discussion will be expected. Students will also be required to submit informal responses to the films on a weekly basis, write critical reviews, and develop creative artifacts related to the themes discussed in class. UK Core: Arts & Creativity |
 ENG 180 002 GREAT MOVIES: Movies We LoveMatthew Godbey TR 9:30 If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s the importance of movies to American culture. For many of us, stuck at home, they offered (and continue to offer) an escape from daily life. This semester, we’ll work to better understand the movies we watch by focusing on our relationship to the stories they tell. This course is designed to answer two simple questions: What are the kinds of movies we love to watch over and over and why do we keep coming back? Whether we’re talking about time loop movies where each day feels the same, or romantic comedies where love triumphs over everything, there are certain storylines audiences can’t get enough of. Over the course of the semester, we’ll examine some of these storylines and work to understand their basic structures. In particular, we’ll examine the cultural archetypes and myths on which they’re built and use these discussions as springboards for critical analysis and for your own creative productions. UK Core: Arts & Creativity |
 ENG 180 003 GREAT MOVIES: Science Fiction
Frederick Bengtsson
MWF 11:00 Science fiction films have been around since the beginning of cinema. Filmmakers have transported us to the moon and taken us on space odysseys, have shown us futures both utopian and dystopian, have celebrated the possibilities of science and worried about its risks, have stretched the bounds of the imagination and pushed the possibilities of film and filmmaking. Along the way, we've had close encounters with aliens, robots, artificial intelligences—but also with ourselves. In this course we will engage with a variety of science fiction films, thinking about how and why they tell their stories; about what is at stake in their representations of the future, of technology, of the alien; and about the creation, representation, and perhaps even the meanings of the worlds imagined in them. UK Core: Arts & Creativity |
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ENG 180 004 GREAT MOVIES: Science Fiction
Frederick Bengtsson
MWF 12:00 Science fiction films have been around since the beginning of cinema. Filmmakers have transported us to the moon and taken us on space odysseys, have shown us futures both utopian and dystopian, have celebrated the possibilities of science and worried about its risks, have stretched the bounds of the imagination and pushed the possibilities of film and filmmaking. Along the way, we've had close encounters with aliens, robots, artificial intelligences—but also with ourselves. In this course we will engage with a variety of science fiction films, thinking about how and why they tell their stories; about what is at stake in their representations of the future, of technology, of the alien; and about the creation, representation, and perhaps even the meanings of the worlds imagined in them. UK Core: Arts & Creativity |
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ENG 180 201 GREAT MOVIES: The Hitchcock Thriller
WC Foreman
MWF 10:00 ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS
This course will examine "the Hitchcock Thriller," looking at (probably) thirteen movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). The Hitchcock Thriller: always there is suspense and always an interest in manipulating his audience's reactions: arousing and releasing our anxieties, expectations, and fears as we follow his characters through dangerous situations that may involve threatened innocence, unexpected adventure, espionage, romance, and excursions into the dark sides of human nature. But also there is usually humor. Most of Hitchcock's movies (and all of the movies in this course) enmesh innocent persons unexpectedly in perilous situations and watch how (and if?) they can extricate themselves (or be extricated). The movies also examine the very nature of "innocence" and its relation to guilt. And we should ask: since these movies are so enjoyable, what is it that makes danger fun? UK Core: Arts & Creativity
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 ENG 280 001 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Brandon West
TR 9:30 This section of ENG 280 is a survey of film studies, intended to provide a broad overview of the academic study of cinema. As such, the course covers a large variety of topics, ranging from camera movements to editing to sound design to the more abstract concept of cinema as culture. As befitting this array of disparate subjects, the course likewise examines a variety of different films from various genres and contexts. Likely films include Get Out (2017), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Shin Godzilla (2016). Assessments may include mid-term and final exams, short papers, film quizzes, and in-class presentations. There is no assigned textbook for this course. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 002 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Brandon West
TR 11:00 This section of ENG 280 is a survey of film studies, intended to provide a broad overview of the academic study of cinema. As such, the course covers a large variety of topics, ranging from camera movements to editing to sound design to the more abstract concept of cinema as culture. As befitting this array of disparate subjects, the course likewise examines a variety of different films from various genres and contexts. Likely films include Get Out (2017), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Shin Godzilla (2016). Assessments may include mid-term and final exams, short papers, film quizzes, and in-class presentations. There is no assigned textbook for this course. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 003 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Rick Halkyard
MWF 2:00 Film and literature are two drastically differing, yet creative mediums which have been used to examine, commentate upon, and illustrate war as an extremity of the human experience and brokenness. This course will introduce how these creative discourses “speak” to one another as they attempt to “speak” to us as viewers and readers. We will view war films spanning from the Civil War to the U.S. incursion on Iraq while reading corresponding literary war fiction across multiple formats (e.g., novels, short stories, poetry). In so doing, we will address the work of filmmakers like Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Bigelow, as well as canonical authors including Melville, Crane, Hemingway, and others. While carefully noting the array of means by which these artists approach warfare (i.e., literary aesthetic, film-editing, cinematography, mise-en-scène, etc.), we will wrestle with the elemental questions every author seems to ask, and filmmakers attempt to capture: what is the meaning of war? what is an “ideal” soldier? how does the trauma of war “travel” from the battlefield to home? how do we think of terms like “duty,” “honor,” and “war death?” The course assessment includes several short “Hot Spot” papers, group discussion, and a final paper.. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 004 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Rick Halkyard
MWF 1:00 Film and literature are two drastically differing, yet creative mediums which have been used to examine, commentate upon, and illustrate war as an extremity of the human experience and brokenness. This course will introduce how these creative discourses “speak” to one another as they attempt to “speak” to us as viewers and readers. We will view war films spanning from the Civil War to the U.S. incursion on Iraq while reading corresponding literary war fiction across multiple formats (e.g., novels, short stories, poetry). In so doing, we will address the work of filmmakers like Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Bigelow, as well as canonical authors including Melville, Crane, Hemingway, and others. While carefully noting the array of means by which these artists approach warfare (i.e., literary aesthetic, film-editing, cinematography, mise-en-scène, etc.), we will wrestle with the elemental questions every author seems to ask, and filmmakers attempt to capture: what is the meaning of war? what is an “ideal” soldier? how does the trauma of war “travel” from the battlefield to home? how do we think of terms like “duty,” “honor,” and “war death?” The course assessment includes several short “Hot Spot” papers, group discussion, and a final paper.. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 005 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Amanda Salmon
MWF 11:00 This course is an introduction to film in two senses: to the wild array of possibilities of the medium and to the careful study of these possibilities. We will watch films as unlike each other as possible, in a range of formats (celluloid, digital), modes (fiction, documentary, animation), intended audience (mainstream, niche), and national origin. Coherence will be provided by careful attention to the technique and form of cinema (mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound) as well as the conditions of spectatorship. The question that has occupied critics, scholars, and theorists for decades — what is cinema? — will guide us throughout the semester. Assessments will involve weekly quizzes, formal written responses, and an analysis of a film of your choice to be published for a public, non-academic audience on a class Web site. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 006 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Amanda Salmon
MWF 10:00 This course is an introduction to film in two senses: to the wild array of possibilities of the medium and to the careful study of these possibilities. We will watch films as unlike each other as possible, in a range of formats (celluloid, digital), modes (fiction, documentary, animation), intended audience (mainstream, niche), and national origin. Coherence will be provided by careful attention to the technique and form of cinema (mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound) as well as the conditions of spectatorship. The question that has occupied critics, scholars, and theorists for decades — what is cinema? — will guide us throughout the semester. Assessments will involve weekly quizzes, formal written responses, and an analysis of a film of your choice to be published for a public, non-academic audience on a class Web site. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 007 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Jenn Murray
TR 12:30 How do we remember and commemorate violence? How reliable is the memory we share and pass on to others? This course will attempt to grapple with these questions and more as we consider a number of films representing conflict and how these films engage our course themes of Conflict, Memory, and Representation. At its heart, this is a basic introduction to the study of film. We will learn to analyze mise-en-scène, editing, cinematography, sound, film genres, and narrative structure. In addition to the textbook study of formal elements of film and film-making indicated above, this class will require students to view approximately one film per week outside of class and participate in large and small group discussions that move beyond the plot of the film and into a consideration of its form and the ways in which the film manufactures, represents, manipulates, interrogates and creates cultural memories of conflicts and contempt among peoples. Graded work in the course will include written critical and analytical responses of varying lengths, quizzes and exams, and a final short film pitch. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 008 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Jenn Murray
TR 11:00 How do we remember and commemorate violence? How reliable is the memory we share and pass on to others? This course will attempt to grapple with these questions and more as we consider a number of films representing conflict and how these films engage our course themes of Conflict, Memory, and Representation. At its heart, this is a basic introduction to the study of film. We will learn to analyze mise-en-scène, editing, cinematography, sound, film genres, and narrative structure. In addition to the textbook study of formal elements of film and film-making indicated above, this class will require students to view approximately one film per week outside of class and participate in large and small group discussions that move beyond the plot of the film and into a consideration of its form and the ways in which the film manufactures, represents, manipulates, interrogates and creates cultural memories of conflicts and contempt among peoples. Graded work in the course will include written critical and analytical responses of varying lengths, quizzes and exams, and a final short film pitch. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 201 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Zach Griffith
MWF 11:00 ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS Today, we’re surrounded by visions of the past and the future. In the last decade or so, we’ve seen an onslaught of nostalgic media in American culture in shows like Stranger Things and films like Ready Player One, as well as a renewed interest in narratives about previously under-discussed historical events and figures, seen in works like Hamilton and The Trial of the Chicago 7. At the same time, we’ve also seen a number of massively popular works that speculate about the future, from dystopian narratives like The Hunger Games trilogy and The Handmaid’s Tale, to supernatural/sci-fi stories such as The Walking Dead and Black Mirror. In short, there’s considerable public interest in stories that are set in other times, and American culture is filled with narratives about who we were and what we might become. This raises a simple question: why? What drives our obsession with the styles and experiences of bygone eras? Why do we tell stories about what the future might hold? How do we remember the past, and how does that memory shape our present (and our future)? How does the present shape the way we conceive of the past and the future? This course will investigate these questions through a selection of films in an effort to consider why we turn to the past and the future, and what these desires tell us about the present. In doing so, the course will introduce students to the basics of film, interpretation, and argument, and we will produce work in written, oral, and digital forms. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
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ENG 280 202 INTRODUCTION TO FILM
Zach Griffith
MWF 1:00 ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS Today, we’re surrounded by visions of the past and the future. In the last decade or so, we’ve seen an onslaught of nostalgic media in American culture in shows like Stranger Things and films like Ready Player One, as well as a renewed interest in narratives about previously under-discussed historical events and figures, seen in works like Hamilton and The Trial of the Chicago 7. At the same time, we’ve also seen a number of massively popular works that speculate about the future, from dystopian narratives like The Hunger Games trilogy and The Handmaid’s Tale, to supernatural/sci-fi stories such as The Walking Dead and Black Mirror. In short, there’s considerable public interest in stories that are set in other times, and American culture is filled with narratives about who we were and what we might become. This raises a simple question: why? What drives our obsession with the styles and experiences of bygone eras? Why do we tell stories about what the future might hold? How do we remember the past, and how does that memory shape our present (and our future)? How does the present shape the way we conceive of the past and the future? This course will investigate these questions through a selection of films in an effort to consider why we turn to the past and the future, and what these desires tell us about the present. In doing so, the course will introduce students to the basics of film, interpretation, and argument, and we will produce work in written, oral, and digital forms. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
 ENG 380 001 FILM AND GENRE: 21c American War Films
Alan Nadel
MW 3:30 This course exams two genres of American war film that have emerged in the 21st Century. The first genre examines films that negotiate war that continues after the declaration that its “mission” was “accomplished,” such as, Jarhead, The Hurt Locker, Redacted, The Green Zone, and American Sniper; the second looks at films for which the only mission is to “get out.” These include: 13 Hours, Hacksaw Ridge, and Dunkirk. We will also look at the cultural narratives informing these films, as reflected in other films, such as, Get Out, Us, Deepwater Horizon, Sully, and Captain Phillips. There will be short quizzes, three take-home exams, and a final. |
 ENG 382 001 HISTORY OF FILM II
Jordan Brower
MW 5:00 This course explores the history of film from 1945 to 2000—between World War II and the new millennium—emphasizing transformations in American filmmaking alongside landmark instances of international art cinemas. In addition to closely analyzing movies by notable directors, we will consider changes in film production and exhibition, the development of film technology as well as the emergence of new forms of audiovisual entertainment, and the ways that movies emerge from and respond to changing social, cultural, and political conditions. Likely films include Bicycle Thieves, In a Lonely Place, Rebel Without a Cause, Bonnie and Clyde, Breathless, Do the Right Thing, Pulp Fiction, and In the Mood for Love. Assessment will likely take the form of informal responses, a close analysis essay (~1200-1500 words), a midterm, and a final exam. |
 ENG 384 001 LITERATURE AND FILM
Walt Foreman
MWF 10:00 An encounter with a variety of Shakespeare’s plays in both written and filmed forms. We will begin with the poetic, dramatic, and theatrical values of Shakespeare’s texts and thus especially with Shakespearean language (“wordplay”) and the way words create character and scenes. Then we will turn to movies made from the plays and to the elaborate and subtle visual “language” movies use to tell stories. Inevitably, and intentionally, we will speak of what the filmmakers have “done to Shakespeare,” but it is important to recognize that we will see the films not only as versions of the plays but also as original and integral works. We will also attend to the way the intelligence and imagination of audiences, including ourselves, engage the gaps in time and culture back to other periods, people, and places—to Shakespeare as the 16th century became the 17th, to people in several countries a hundred years ago trying to figure out how to “film Shakespeare,” to Laurence Olivier in World War II Britain, to Akira Kurosawa in Japan in the 1950s and again in the 1980s, to Al Pacino in 1990s’ America, and so forth. The sweep we make from Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (c. 1592) to Julie Taymor’s The Tempest (2010) and Joss Whedon's Much Ado about Nothing (2012) should tell us something about the world over the last four hundred years and about ways of seeing it. |
 ENG 480 001 STUDIES IN FILM: The Hollywood Western and the Ride into the Sunset
Armando Prats
TR 12:30 This course examines the endings of American Westerns (including the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone) in the context of that old promise—often implicit yet ever alluring—that sustains the hero’s actions, his sacrifices, on behalf of a myth, a delusion. We will screen some fifteen or so Westerns and focus our attention not only on plot and character but on the relation between myth and history. An oral presentation that will form the basis of a final research paper. Fulfills ENG Major 400-level course requirement. Provides ENG Major Elective credit and ENG minor credit. |
 ENG 495 001 HONORS SEMINAR: Film, Literature, and Culture of Cold War America (1946 to 1963)
Alan Nadel
MW 2:00 This honors seminar will look at the informing concepts and practices of American politics and culture during the “High” Cold War (i.e., between the end of WWII and the escalation of the Vietnam War), as manifest in the literature, film, court decisions, and public policies of the period. The topics will include: “McCarthyism,” desegregation, and the post-WWII reassignment of gender roles. Texts will include the novels The Catcher in the Rye, Lolita, Invisible Man, and the films No Way Out, The Defiant Ones, Gigi, Lady and the Tramp, Rear Window, and In a Lonely Place. There will be two take-home exams and a research paper (2500 to 3500 words). |
French Film Courses |
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FR 425 MEDIA STUDIES: French History through Film
Leon Sachs
TR 2:00
Students will examine major historical events and periods in the French-speaking world through the study of both classic and popular French-language films. Most of the films will represent episodes from the modern and contemporary period: the Revolution, the Dreyfus Affair, the Algerian War, episodes in colonial and post-colonial history, the First World War and the German Occupation. The course will begin with a review of some key film terms that will help facilitate film analysis and class discussion in French. TAUGHT IN FRENCH
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Jewish Studies Film Courses |
 HJS 180 HOLOCAUST FILMSheila Jelen TR 11:00 The Holocaust is one of the most widely represented events in human history even though many artists and critics have argued that it cannot be represented in language or image because the horrors endured by its victims push against the limits of human comprehension, and therefore, expression. In this class we will explore Holocaust films from the decades just after the war until the present in order to probe the challenges of representing trauma, horror, and genocide on the big screen. We will consider the cultural discourses around which the Holocaust has been organized for the past half a century and how they are reflected in film. Crosslisted with MCL180. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry Arts & Creativity |
Modern & Classical Languages, Literature & Cultures Film Courses |
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MCL 180 HOLOCAUST FILM Sheila Jelen TR 11:00 The Holocaust is one of the most widely represented events in human history even though many artists and critics have argued that it cannot be represented in language or image because the horrors endured by its victims push against the limits of human comprehension, and therefore, expression. In this class we will explore Holocaust films from the decades just after the war until the present in order to probe the challenges of representing trauma, horror, and genocide on the big screen. We will consider the cultural discourses around which the Holocaust has been organized for the past half a century and how they are reflected in film. Crosslisted with HJS 180. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry Arts & Creativity |
 MCL 343 Global Horror
Nels Jeff Rogers
TR 9:30
MCL 343 is an introduction to the 20th and 21st century horror film as a global genre. We will explore the genre from multiple perspectives. Focusing on the figure of the monster as the source of our fears, the course examines how the horror genre mobilizes narratives, images, emotions and affective states that challenge and/or affirm particular ideologies. Close attention is paid to the ways in which cultural anxieties are embedded in and function in horror narratives, images and sounds. UK Core: Global Dynamics, Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities
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Philosophy Film Courses |
 PHI 393 PHILOSOPHY OF FILM
Brandon C. Look
TR 11:00
This course examines philosophical issues relating to photography and film (i.e. motion pictures, moving images, movies). Drawing on contemporary philosophical essays as well as many films (from art house films to Hollywood classics), we will address the following questions:
• Is photography art? Is film art?
• What is film? Can one define its central nature or essence?
• What are the aesthetic criteria by which we ought to evaluate a film?
• What is the nature of non-narrative or non-fictional films, aka documentaries?
• How do films engage our emotions?
• How does narration work in films?
• How can film address issues of personal identity and self-knowledge?
• How do we come to know others and what is the role of film in this process?
• Can film do philosophy?
Also, since this course fulfills the Creativity component of UK Core, students will be required to produce photographic works as well as (very) short films in addition to more standard philosophical/scholarly essays. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry Arts & Creativity
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Spanish Film Classes |
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SPA 371 LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA: Subtitle TBD Dierdra Reber TR 2:00 Course description forthcoming. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities |
Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies |
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WRD 312 INTRODUCTION TO DOCUMENTARY Thomas Marksbury MWF 1:00 A hybrid of analysis and production. We will examine a number of films which approach the form and the subject matter with as many different perspectives and strategies as possible. Thematic clusters include portraits of the artist (Grizzly Man), issues of representation (Hillbillies, Black Is, Black Ain't,), an extended look at autobiography (Stories We Tell, Tarnatio), cinema verite (Salesman, Gimme Shelter), and the essay (Exit Through the Gift Shop). Midway through and at the end, we will shift into workshop mode. No previous experience is required as you plunge into the process of making a short documentary of your own. Two exams, final draft of 5 to 7 minute film. UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry Arts & Creativity |
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WRD 410 RHETORIC AND POPULAR CULTURE Thomas Marksbury MWF 9:00 Emphasis on modern film and television, mostly American. We will be looking at paired texts which reflect upon and diverge from each other, starting with the original version of Candyman and the recent re-visioning of it. Other contrasts and juxtapositions include the human monster (Psycho and American Psycho), the ghost story (The Haunting of Hill House mini-series), the vampire (from Christopher Lee to A Girl Walks Home Alone to the recent BBC adaptation), the anthology (Trick 'r Treat, selections from American Horror Story), and reflexive horror (In the Mouth of Madness, Videodrome). Two exams, two shortish essays, final project, lots of healthy arguments. |
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WRD 420 RHETORICAL TRADITIONS: Games Identity Culture Kishonna Gray MWF 10:00 (This course) Explores how games as networked and collaborative technologies facilitate community building, interaction and development. We will specifically explore how gaming technologies can be utilized for narrative and communication purposes. The notion of communication is value laden, rooted in hegemonic histories privileging particular ways of knowing, being, thinking, creating, etc. As such, this class will focus on particular perspectives and points of view being communicated through gaming technologies – perspectives traditionally marginalized and/or excluded. |
CLA 100 001 ANCIENT STORIES IN MODERN FILMS
