Course Description: An examination of the literary and visual representations of various cities in East Asia: Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul. Through close analyses of the fiction, films, and photographs that illuminate East Asian urbanism, we will extensively discuss the cultural representations of East Asian metropolises. 

Course Description: Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1302. This course introduces students to the canon of Chinese literature, and traces the social-political and cultural transformation of Chinese societies and the global Chinese diaspora through literature.

Course Description: Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1302. Through discussing contemporary film, music, TV drama, dance, performance, fashion, art and internet culture, this course explores the changing role of socialist politics, the rise of consumerism, and China's global cultural significance in the contemporary world. Taught in English.

Course Description: History of German films within their historical, cultural, thematic, and aesthetic context. Taught in English. Core: Creative Arts.

Course Description: From the silent era (Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis), to sound and film noir (M), fascist ideology (Triumph of the Will) and post-war recovery (The Murderers Among Us), to New German Cinema and more recent films taking on the Nazi past (The Tin Drum, The Marriage of Maria Braun, Aguirre the Wrath of God) and life in modern Germany (Wings of Desire, Run Lola Run), we will explore narrative, production, reception, and the politics of representation through a century of German Cinema.

Course Description: East German films within their historical, cultural, thematic, and aesthetic context. Taught in English. Core: Creative Arts.

Course Description:How many ways can filmmakers depict young King Arthur withdrawing the sword from the stone?? Answer: MANY! This course will compare modern translations of literary texts written in the medieval period (13th-century King Arthur narratives, Werewolf narratives, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Robin Hood ballads, Beowulf) to film and television adaptations of this material (Excalibur and other Arthurian films, five Beowulf adaptations, five SGGK adaptations including The Green Knight [2021], and various Robin Hood films and TV series). Course goals include: learning how to perform close reading of the words that comprise medieval literary texts; learning how to “read” the components of cinematography: mise en scene, camera shots, dialogue, lighting, sound, musical soundtrack, costume, props, casting, etc.; sharpening critical thinking. Cinematic materials include silent films, animation, Hollywood blockbuster feature films, and TV series. CORE Requirement Satisfied: Language, Philosophy & Culture

Course Description: Course introduces students to major medieval texts about the legend of King Arthur and his Roundtable Knights. Course compares medieval texts to cinematic medievalism by comparing major episodes in the Arthurian legend to their adaptations in films and television series. Course teaches close reading of literary texts AND film texts by analyzing how major filmmakers (John Boorman, Joshua Logan, Guy Ritchie, David Lowery) adapt King Arthur’s medieval legend for contemporary audiences through movies and TV.

Course Description: In this intensive and focused study of Beowulf, the foundational poem of British literature, English majors will culminate their experience of classic British texts by revisiting in depth its earliest (10th-century) text. Students will engage deeply with Beowulf in modern translation, with focused study of key passages in the original Old English. Besides the poem’s medieval analogues (Icelandic sagas and other Old-English texts for cultural context), the course will cover post-medieval literary adaptations--20th-century or recent novels that either reconceive the epic’s plot and characters or revisit it from another character’s point of view (John Gardner’s 1971 Grendel, from the male monster’s point of view; Michael Crichton’s 1976 Eaters of the Dead, from an Arab’s point of view; Susan S. Morrison’s 2015 Grendel’s Mother, from the female monster’s point of view; Maria Headley’s recent translation/adaptation Beowulf etc.) Class members will also explore the many multimedia adaptations of the text: feature films, TV, comic books, video games, etc. Work includes: quizzes; weekly reflections that “close-read” passages from texts or media; short critical papers; a curated multimedia collection of researched items.

Course Description: This course is an investigation into the concept of the “ghost” as a figure that emerges and exposes the interstices between material/immaterial, real/imaginary, private/public, the past/present, right/wrong, rational/irrational, same/other, and further constructed binaries. This course will tackle the ghost as a figure of haunting while also questioning the very real material effects of embodiment, affect, and other modes of disruption that occur with the ghost’s emergence on the page and in our historical present. Specifically, then, this course will tackle the figure of the “ghost” in relation to questions and theories of racialization, spatiality, sexuality, history, embodiment, and affect theory.

Course materials draw on a wide range of disciplines and approaches including, but not limited to, psychoanalytic theory, black feminist theory, gender and sexuality studies, monster theory, literary theory, and sociology. Students will be asked to engage with short stories, novels, film, and television.

Course Description: The course will cover the historical, cultural, thematic, and aesthetic evolution of French cinema from the silent era to modern times.

Course Description: Study of films from French-speaking North & Sub-Saharan Africa within their historical, cultural, thematic, and aesthetic context.

Course Description: Representation of women and gender issues in contemporary French cinema.

Course Description: Tamil Culture Through Tamil Cinema examines the intricate relationship between Tamil films and the cultural heritage of the Tamil people. It highlights how cinema serves as a medium for storytelling, showcasing traditional customs, language, music, and social issues, while also shaping and reflecting the evolving identity of Tamil society.

Course Description: This course is taught concurrently with ITAL 6306 Advanced Italian Cinema and WCL 3367 National Cinema in Global Perspective. Italian filmmakers and actors have produced an impressive number of films that have influenced and continue to influence the cinema of the entire world, from Europe to the United States, and from Latin America to Asia. This course introduces the students to crucial works from the directors of the Neorealist and post-Neorealist age up to the present time. The course focuses particularly on films that had an impact outside of Italy and films by Italian directors looking at the world and shooting film that address other culture.

Course Description: This course covers a wide and exciting selection of topics. Students should come away from the course able to answer not only questions central to contemporary analytic philosophy of film but also philosophical questions surrounding the cornerstones of contemporary filmmaking.

Course Description: A JOURNEY INTO FILMMAKING AND THE SEARCH FOR MEANING. Explore spirituality, world religions, and belief systems woven into the film and media we love to consume.

Course Description: Critical analysis of use of photographs and other images in contemporary society, from mass media to social media to interpersonal communication.

Course Description: Contemporary theories on how knowledge and culture affect the construction of social reality.

This course will survey the recent global phenomenon of South Korean popular culture, sometimes referred to as "Hallyu" (Korean Wave). With various cultural products such as music, television, and literature, we will investigate local, regional, and global forces/elements in contemporary Korean popular culture's production, distribution, and consumption. Through critical engagement with contemporary Korean media, this course aims to equip students with an understanding of major theories and discussions in globalization, transnationalism, multiculturalism, and cultural politics, as well as media literacy that allows analyzing popular culture and its products. Throughout the course, materials and topics covered span reviews of the South Korean government's cultural policies to analyses of Fandom culture. No prior knowledge of Korean media, history, culture, or language is required.