Studies in Literature and Film (386-0-20)

Topic

American Nightmare: Ghosts, Zombies, and Tales of

Instructors

Laura MacKay Hansen

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 214: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

Recent American novels and films are filled with the dead, the undead, and something-in-between. Whether it is a ghost child suspended in the Tibetan bardo or a teenage girl with a rare immunity from infection trying to make her way through a zombie-filled post-apocalyptic America, these characters move through landscapes replete with supernatural beings, both evil and benign. What might this fascination with the supernatural say about our connection to the past and our anxieties about the future? In this course, we'll look at George Saunders' novel Lincoln in the Bardo, set in a graveyard filled with the Civil War-era dead, and Ryan Coogler's vampire film Sinners, set in the 1930s Mississippi delta. We'll also consider episodes from Craig Mazin's The Last of Us, which chronicles a young girl's violent journey across a hostile country of the dystopian future. We'll think about what these visions of a dangerous and divided America, filled with strange and unearthly beings, might have to tell us about our culture, our guilt, our fears, and our desires. Other texts may include: the Duffer Brothers' Stranger Things, Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, Jodan Peele's Get Out, and Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for English students.