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The Craft of Writing – Film Focus – Monsters!
R1B 002 | CCN: 17081
Location: Social Sciences Building 80
Date and Time: TU, TH 9:30am - 10:59am
4 Units
Vampires! Werewolves! Zombies! What do monsters—and monster films in particular—reveal about the cultures that create and consume them? By looking closely at the various forms in which monstrosity appears on screen, we will analyze how these imagined others are framed as objects of both fear and desire. Throughout the semester, we will examine how monster films reveal a host of anxieties about otherness, in and across terms of class, race, gender, sexuality, environment, technology, etc. We’ll read works from theorists including Aviva Briefel, Jeffrey Cohen, Sigmund Freud, Jack Halberstam, and Julia Kristeva. Screenings may include Godzilla, The Fly, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and Us as well as episodes from The Walking Dead, True Blood, and Hannibal.
This course fulfills the second part of the Reading and Composition requirement, with an emphasis on research. We will practice how to closely read theoretical and cinematic texts, formulate research questions and gather relevant sources, construct a convincing argument based on research and close reading, and revise writing based on workshopping while incorporating peer and instructor feedback.