Course introduces the study of how writers and filmmakers have imagined justice, the law, violence, and social order, along with how the overlapping genres of crime, mystery, and detective fiction have increasingly spread in popularity across the globe, blurring the lines between ethics and entertainment.
Athena Title
Global Crime Fiction and Film
Prerequisite
Experience engaging critically with literary or other texts and experience developing and expressing ideas in written and oral form.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will apply learned historical patterns to assess how crime fiction and film are not only forms of contemporary entertainment, but also indicators of social, historical, and political relations linked to globalization.
Students will apply literary and sociological theories to comparatively analyze differing international approaches to law, ethics, and entertainment
Students will perform close readings of fiction and nonfiction media to learns methods for critical analysis of popular messaging, marketing, and media reception across international societies.
Students will improve expository writing and communication skills via task-based assignments designed for different written and digital media.
Topical Outline
The course generally consists of a series of readings in detective fiction, with special emphasis on the relevance of this genre to contemporary society around the world. Examples selected will provide an overview of the historical development of the genre in various countries. The works treated will vary with the instructor.
Stewart King, et al. The Cambridge Companion to World Crime Fiction
Nicole Rafter, Criminology Goes to the Movies
Alison LeCroix, et al., Fatal Fictions: Crime and Investigation in Law and Literature
Louise Nillsen, et al. Crime Fiction as World Literature
Homer Pettey, International Noir Film
Heather Worthington, Key Concepts in Crime Fiction
Nickie Philips, Comic Book Crime: Truth, Justice, and the American Way
Kim Toft Hansen, Locating Nordic Noir
Sabine Binder, Women and Crime in Post-Transitional South African Crime Fiction
