ENGL 386
Catastrophe/Apocalypse: The Movie Fall 2014
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

The film industry has always appreciated the visual and dramatic possibilities of catastrophe, and lately the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic sensibility seems to be everywhere in our mass culture. In fact, being plugged into the zeitgeist might necessarily entail a familiarity with the emerging tropes and assumptions of this subgenre. This course will consider the ways in which such films model for us those moments when our expectations and/or actions collide with the devastating and unforeseeable realities of our physical world and political situation. How do we measure loss when loss occurs at the upper end of the human scale? How do we consider collectively, in either secular or metaphysical terms, the issue of our own complicity in — if not responsibility for– disaster? Films to be studied will include W.S. Van Dyke’s San Francisco, Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, Michael Heneke’s Time of the Wolf, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool, Yoshiro Nakamura’s Fish Story, and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 20
Expected: 20
Class#: 1653
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: four short papers and in-class presentations
Prerequisites: ENGL 204 or permission of the instructor
Enrollment Preferences: junior and senior English majors
Distributions: Division I
Attributes: ENGL Literary Histories C

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