Course details

Name: ENFL - 490

Title: SPECIAL TOPICS: ACTION CINEMA

Section: 01

Semester: Spring - 2011

Credits: 3

Description:
Action cinema, like other ‘body genres’, references changing societal conceptions of race, gender and sexuality, refracting them through its particular conventions of narrative, spectacle and stardom. In this course, we will consider American action cinema of the 1980s, an era defined by Reagan-era militarist, patriarchal and capitalist retrenchment at home and abroad. The course will engage extensively with contemporary feminist, queer and race theory, as well as ideological studies of American mass culture and media. Attention will also be paid to international action films that have had a profound influence on the development of the genre. Students will be expected to apply concepts and modes of analysis from the theoretical literature to the detailed formal analysis of specific films.

Possible filmmakers include Michael Bay, Luc Besson, Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Richard Donner, Renny Harlin, Ted Kotcheff, John McTiernan, Takashi Miike, Park Chan-Wook, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Verhoeven and John Woo.

Requirements:
Midterm
Research paper
Quizzes on the readings
Participation in class and on Blackboard
Outside-of-class viewing of additional films on DVD

Last updated on 2010-10-23 By Lykidis Alexios (lykidisa)

Schedule: Monday From 1:00 pm To 3:45 pm

Graduation requirements:

• Genre Study (Film)
• ()

Teaching Faculty: Lykidis Alexios (lykidisa)

Is course canceled: No