FILM 310 - Humans,Monsters,ThingsBetween

Institution:

Westminster College (Salt Lake City)

Subject:

Film Studies

Description:

Many critics regard D. W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation (1915) as the single most important achievement in early narrative cinema. In addition to being a magnificent movie, The Birth of a Nation is a virulently racist one: the black people in the film are less "human" than the white characters are. These differences are absolutely essential to the narrative, and they are, sadly, part of the film's achievement. This course begins with the idea that, at least in films, the category "human" is very complex. It explores some of the ways that certain films have depicted the "humanness" of people, animals, and even objects. It also considers how the inhuman has operated in cinema-for example, in films that depict monsters. As the example above shows, at the heart of these questions are the issues that shape identity in everyday human experience: race, gender, sexuality, and bodily constitution (body type, sex role conformity, "ability," etc.).

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.westminstercollege.edu

Phone Number:

(801) 484-7651

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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