Graduate Office - Literature and Criticism Course Offerings By Semester

Course schedules are subject to change.  Please see Cathy Renwick for more information.

SUMMER 2006 SESSION II

ENGL 765: Literary Genres: Philosophy and Film

Dr. Thomas Slater
M-F 8:00-10:00 a.m.

 This class will provide an introduction to understanding narrative and stylistic elements of film and film theory and then explore general issues of morality, ethics, and philosophy through the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Jean Renoir.  Thus, students will receive an understanding of the works of three major directors, of film in relation to culture, politics, and history, and an understanding of how to explore film in relation to philosophical issues as well.  Major research papers do not have to be limited to one of the films of these directors since students should have an understanding of film techniques and a set of concepts they will be ready to explore within any film.  Our studies will thus include films such as Welles’s Citizen Kane and Othello; Renoir’s The Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game; and Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Vertigo.  Other relevant films might include Triumph of the Will; Three Kings; King Lear: A Meditation; The Matrix; or Groundhog Day.  Required texts will be David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, 7^th ed.; Noel Carroll and Jinhee Choi, eds. Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures: An Anthology; and Irving Singer, Three Philosophical Filmmakers: Hitchcock, Welles, Renoir.  Besides the major essay, students will also write two or three short essays, several free-writing responses, and provide a small-group presentation.