Topics in Sound Studies (400-0-20)
Topic
Audio Drama
Instructors
Neil Kanwar Harish Verma
Meeting Info
Louis Hall 105: Mon 10:00AM - 12:50PM
Overview of class
This course will introduce students to key works of science fiction, fantasy and horror in sound-based narrative, from classic radio drama to contemporary audio drama podcasts. Beginning with adventures (The Mercury Theater on the Air; Escape), thrillers and noir anthology programs (Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Suspense) of the 1930s, our course moves on to the golden age of science fiction in the 1950s in shows such as Dimension X and X Minus One. We will then look at how genre fiction helped to revive radio drama in subsequent decades, including in the famed series A HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and lesser-known shows like The Vanishing Point and adaptations of the work of such authors as Octavia Butler, Stephen King and John Wyndham. The last part of the quarter focuses on how podcasters reinvented the medium with programs such as Welcome to Night Vale, The Black Tapes, and Wolf 359 in recent decades. Along the way we will tackle questions of genre, narrativity and mass mediation, listening to how the themes and questions of how speculative fiction and fantasy can speak across contexts.
Note: This class is not open to students who have already taken RTVF 315.
Evaluation Method
Active class participation and attendance: 20%. You must come to class having done the reading and listening.
Short assignments: 20% Throughout the class, you will be asked to do short assignments, including bringing in sounds and serving as designated respondent.
Reflective essay: 30% At the end of the quarter, students will write a speculative essay on what audio drama needs next. Prompts for this will be distributed in Week 7.
Final assignment: 30%. In groups, students will write and produce a work of live audio drama. No experience is necessary; this work will be presented in class time, as if performing to a live audience.
Alternative Scheme: For MA or PhD students, you may opt to write a term paper instead of the three assignments above.