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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
This course examines how and why important 20th century writers reinterpreted ancient myths to explore modern themes of ennui, violence, and the absurd hero. We begin with classical authors then jump to those of the 20th century: for example, Louise Glück, James Joyce, Albert Camus, and Eugene O'Neill. In addition to reading literature and essays, students write original poems and sketches in order to understand how mythic narratives continue to satisfy the modern voice.
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2.00 Credits
What compels artists to incorporate myth into their work? What do their choices tell us? This course examines the interpretation of myths in the art of contemporary animation— namely, the work of Hayao Miyazaki and Disney- Pixar Studios. We will watch films in class: SPIRITED AWAY, PRINCESS MONONOKE, LAPUTA, PONYO, MULAN, HERCULES, FINDING NEMO, and more. Students will discuss the elements of myth-making that animators adopt from old traditions and write their own myths.
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3.00 Credits
English General Banastre Tarleton was reviled throughout the American South for his extreme brutality during the War of American Independence. Why, then, did Margaret Mitchell select Tarleton as the surname for the twin brothers who are courting the Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind? Did Mitchell intend the name both as an historical reference, and as a literary reference? In four short stories, F. Scott Fitzgerald used the fictional town of Tarleton, Georgia as the backdrop for his disparagement of the notion that social integration was desirable—much less even possible. Did Mitchell conceive her novel as a counterweight to Fitzgerald's depictions of the futility of attempts at class mobility—not only in those stories, but also in The Great Gatsby? What's at stake in the commitment to resisting or promoting class fluidity? How does Mitchell's debate with Fitzgerald illustrate the role social standing plays in modern America?
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1.00 Credits
Students explore Baltimore through a variety of media that tell stories- writing, movies, radio shows, photography, and more. The course will include short stories by Laura Lippman, Edgar Allen Poe, and Ann Tyler, David Simon's "The Wire" and films by John Waters, photography by Aubrey Bodine, class trips and guest speakers. Students will also try their hand at journalism, documentary, and other creative avenues of storytelling.
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3.00 Credits
All plagues seem to begin in mystery: What is happening? Why? Who can we blame? What needs to change? How we react to these questions in the midst of a mass disaster has fascinated writers for centuries. Looking to literature, this class will examine pandemics ranging from the Black Death to Influenza to HIV/AIDS. We will also discuss vampires, zombies, and laboratory experiments gone disastrously wrong. Students will write their own poems and short stories.
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3.00 Credits
This course examines the history of musical theater, from Gilbert and Sullivan to Hammerstein to Sondheim, in all its forms: stage, film, live actions, cartoons, and jukebox musicals. We will watch films in class, including CAROUSEL, GUYS & DOLLS, SOUND OF MUSIC, SWEENEY TODD, RENT, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, GLEE episodes, and more. Students write lyrics and imitations, and a short paper on a favorite lyricist. Optional field trips to DC and Baltimore theaters to see musicals live.
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2.00 Credits
The course will explore how we convey the complexities of the human experience against the landscape of alien worlds and nonlinear time. Special topics will include the dependence of the "soul" on the physical form, sexuality vs. identity, and reality vs. memory in the fragmented narrative. Readings will include works by Stanislaw Lem, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree, Jr., and Philip K. Dick.
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1.00 Credits
An examination of the screenplays as a literary text and blue-print for production. Professional screenplays will be critically analyzed, with focus on character, dialogue, plot development, conflict, pacing, dramatic foreshadowing, the element of surprise, text and subtext, and visual story-telling. Students will learn professional screenplay format and write a short script.
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2.00 Credits
Do you ever wonder whether you’d be able to survive the zombie apocalypse? Or why vampires haven’t yet taken over the earth? Do you lie awake at night worrying about avian flu? Do you love films about the end of times, the race to find a cure, or the resilience of humanity? Through literature and film, this course will examine our medical battles and cultural fascinations with plagues and pandemics.
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3.00 Credits
This course will examine the broad family tree of American poetry, from Whitman and Dickinson to the present day. We will focus on several poets of the 20th century as exemplars of major trends and/or instigators of change over the last hundred years, and we will seek to chart their influences. Through our own poems and essays, we will enter into a conversation with the myriad voices that have composed the poem in America.
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