Studies in Media Topics (298-0-21)

Topic

Horror Cinema and the Human Condition

Instructors

Tayler Sabrina Scriber

Meeting Info

Louis Hall 119: Mon, Wed 10:30AM - 11:50AM

Overview of class

In the twenty-first century, interest in horror has grown immensely in terms of audience viewership, critical acclaim, and academic engagement creating larger discussions around the genre's enjoyability and how it expresses socio-cultural fears and anxieties. Jordan Peele's Get Out (2016), David Robert Mitchell's It Follows (2014), James Wan's Malignant (2021) and Coralie Fargeat's The Substance (2024) are just a few examples of horror films that simultaneously sparked renewed interest in the genre as entertainment and socio-cultural conversations about race, sexuality, gender, class, and ability. Namely, how the unique technical and textual conventions of the horror genre lend themselves to critiques of social movements and identities in ways that other genres are unable or unwilling to attend to. The course will ask students to contend broadly with the following questions: how do we account for the genre's enduring cinematic popularity? How are contemporary horror films making inroads toward understanding underrepresented historical, environmental, cultural and political perspectives? What new fears and anxieties are being presented in the horror genre through contemporary cinema?

Learning Objectives

In this course, students will view a wide selection of contemporary horror films ranging from slasher flicks, creature features, dark comedies, paranormal thrillers, found footage films among other horror subcategories that show the genre's depth and versatility. Through readings that explore the horror's history and traditional conventions, as well as theoretical interventions made through gender & sexuality studies, feminist studies, disability studies, and race studies, students will learn to critically engage with the textual and paratexual elements of the genre. Students will demonstrate their grasp on new concepts through in-class socratic discussion, weekly critiques of screenings, a short form presentation on one screening/reading, a final project prospectus, and a final project which can consist of a traditional paper, a video essay, a zine, or a creative art piece with an artist statement.