Mar 29, 2024  
Catalogue 2018-2019 
    
Catalogue 2018-2019 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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FILM 180 - The Detective Film

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
To prepare students for college-level writing, this course uses the detective film as the framework for learning how to write about motion pictures and for the development of critical reading, research, and writing skills. The figure of the detective is one of the most iconic archetypes in American cinema from the silent era to the present. We examine the detective film through the lenses of genre, adaptation, sound studies, gender politics, and authorship. We also explore how the genre has adapted and responded to its socio-cultural or ideological contexts in movies such as The Big SleepBlade Runner, and The Silence of the Lambs. Throughout the semester, students write and revise a series of short papers, culminating with a final research paper. In these assignments, students consider such issues as the relationship between characters and their environment, why certain detectives (i.e., Sherlock Holmes and Phillip Marlowe) have maintained their appeal over different historical periods, and how popular film genres can challenge or reinforce cultural norms and attitudes. Alex Kupfer. 

Open only to first-year students; satisfies college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.

Two 75-minute periods accompanied by film screenings.



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