Topics in Film in Latin America and/or Spain (380-0-1)
Topic
Latin American Film
Instructors
Nathalie Bouzaglou
847/467-1543
3-139 Crowe
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-440: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
This course will allow students to explore a series of contemporary Latin American films and other media. From a global, comparative perspective, this course will examine selected themes and aesthetic trends in Peruvian, Mexican, Colombian, Cuban, and other countries' film and media produced in the 20th and 21st centuries. The discussions will be accompanied by theoretical and historical readings that provide a framework for their analysis and fictional texts that give more context. Among other topics, discussions of the films and texts will cover subalternity and the Third World, sexual and racial politics, urban violence, postcolonial poetics, genocide, cultural hybridism, dictatorship and populism, and technologies of power. Although we will pay some attention to film techniques, our primary concern will be narrative strategies, ideological content, and the ethics of representation.
Registration Requirements
1 course from SPANISH 220-0, SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0.
Learning Objectives
This course is in the Foundational Discipline-Literature and Arts category. As such, throughout this course, students will:
· Observe the forms, genres, and styles of literary expression in Latin America from the end of the 19th century to the present through close reading and analysis practices.
· Gain awareness of the social, political, cultural, and historical factors influencing artistic expression, the relations between the artist and the public, and the potential of creative art to challenge or affirm social and cultural norms. This will include discussions of the leading Latin American literary movements of the period.
· Appreciate how literature reveals the differences and diversity, as well as the continuity and unity, of human cultures. This course will introduce students to the social and historical context in which the works were written.
· Through class participation and writing assignments, produce persuasive interpretation, analysis, and commentary on literature and art, both spoken and written.
· By emulating the subtleties of literature, students develop their Spanish writing skills and sharpen their powers of interpretation, critique, and aesthetic perception. This will involve summarizing, close reading, contextualizing, and synthesizing analyses of course texts in short writing assignments and a final portfolio.
Class Materials (Required)
All course materials will be available in Canvas.
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 220-0, SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0.