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Media Aesthetic Education (371-0-20)

Instructors

Domietta Torlasco
847/491-8269
1860 S. Campus Drive, Crowe Hall #2-131

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-331: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

IT371 Media Aesthetic Education: PLAY!

What do we learn by playing? How free are we to play? Can we build communities through play? This course explores "play" as a form of engagement with the world and our own self that is grounded in both perception and imagination. We will focus on the ways audiovisual technologies (from film and photography to videogames) shape our sense of play and, with it, our consciousness and sense of social being at crucial moments in history.

We start by attending to a brief history of the "play drive," from German Romanticism to psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory. We then focus on Italian cinema as a case study and reassess its contribution by foregrounding play as the expression of both historical trauma and historical hope. Finally, we turn to one of the most widespread forms of contemporary play, video games, and investigates their relation to globalization and warfare.

Class Materials (Required)

On Canvas

Class Notes

Course will be taught in English

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity