UGA Bulletin

Course Description

An in-depth analytical survey of one or multiple historically significant film genres.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to read additional essays from a supplemental reading list. Examinations will consist of midterm and final take-home essays incorporating those extra materials. Graduate students are also responsible for making formal presentations to the class on their own research project, and they will write a longer final paper. Note: There is currently no graduate degree in Film Studies; thus, the graduate students come from a wide range of departments and programs, often with little training in film.

Athena Title

Genre Cinema

Prerequisite

FILM 2120

Semester Course Offered

Not offered on a regular basis.

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of the class, students should be able to seek a specific definition of cinematic horror, including typical plots, stylistic aspects, conventions, characters, and representations of monsters.
By the end of the class, students should be able to consider the genre from a historical perspective, tracking how it has evolved over time and across movements and film industries, and we will investigate certain social and political factors that have influenced horror's development.
By the end of the class, students should be able to examine several influential (and competing) theories that attempt to explain horror's emotional and intellectual effects and its seemingly paradoxical appeal.

Topical Outline

A. Single-Genre Focus Genre Overview and Definitions 1. Introduction/Genre Studies 2. Horror's Historical Pattern 3. Art-Horror and Monsters 4. Narrative and Style in the Horror Film Theories of Horror's Effects 5. Horror and Psychoanalytical Theory 6. Cognitivism and the Paradox of Horror 7. Uncanny Horror and Art-Dread Additional Historical and Theoretical Applications 8. Horror and Gender: Science, Supernatural, and Insanity Subgenres 9. Allegorical Horror and National Trauma 10. Horrific Hybrids B. Multiple-Genre Focus The Western 1. The Classic Western 2. Women in the West 3. The Spaghetti Western 4. Western Postmodernism The Horror Film 5. Cult Horror 6. The Slasher Film 7. Horror as Art Cinema 8. Genre Hybrids Science Fiction 9. B-Movies: Science Fiction 10. Sci-Fi Modernism 11. Postmodern Science Fiction Comedies 12. Screwball Comedies 13. Sex Comedies 14. Romcoms 15. Bromance

Institutional Competencies

Analytical Thinking

The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.

Critical Thinking

The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.

Syllabus

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