Course description

This class familiarizes students with popular films produced during crucial junctures in the modern history of the United States, from the Great Depression and World War II through the Cold War, the McCarthy era, and the 1960s. More specifically, we study how Hollywood's dream factory responded to dramatic challenges that states of crisis and emergency posed to the founding ideals of our democracy. We look at the wide range of functions that commercial fantasy productions assumed, how they at times legitimated and bolstered the status quo, but at others also interrogated, exposed, and even indicted social inequity. Films provide a representative sampling of classical American features from 1932 to 1969, including ScarfaceKing KongThe Wizard of OzGone with the WindCitizen KaneCasablancaHigh NoonThe Invasion of the Body SnatchersThe Manchurian Candidate, and Easy Rider.

Instructors

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