Topic: Exhibit Change:AmericanCulture
| Time | Days | Location | Instructor | GER | Credit | OPUS Class Number | Syllabus (Tentative) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2:30pm-3:45pm 4:00pm-6:00pm | TuTh Tu | New Psyc Bldg 250 (36 Eagle Ro White Hall 112 | Melnick, Ross. | 4 | 3193 | TBA. |
January 12, 2011- April 25, 2011
Prerequisites: FILM 270
Crosslisted: AMST385-002.
Catalog Description: Prerequisite: FILM 270 or consent of instructor. Individual topics on film study focusing on a specific period (e.g., primitive era, transition to sound, post-World War II) or national movement (e.g., Italian neorealism, the nouvelle vague, das neue Kino, Latin American militant cinema). Weekly out-of-class screenings required.
Semester Details: Exhibiting Change: Moviegoing, American Culture, and Social Change
This course examines the history of moviegoing in the United States in order to place it in a larger cultural context, while also examining changes in American culture, leisure time practices, as well as social, class, gender, and racial formation. Gender, and its relationship to moviegoing audiences and labor within the movie theater, will be a consistent topic throughout. Race will also play a key part in our study of moviegoing, from the physical segregation of audiences in a single viewing space to theaters voluntarily or involuntarily separated from the mainstream, commercial exhibition market. Throughout the course, the influence of war and wartime content will also be discussed, including the movie theater’s role as a recruitment center during both world wars.
The second half of this course will closely examine post-war America, the impact of television, racial integration, and the migration to suburbia. The course will also relate the economic decline of American downtowns with the loss of (older) movie theaters and habitual moviegoing. Thus, an examination of suburban sprawl, urban planning, and racial divisions will be a key component of this course. Architecture and design will also be a focus and course readings will consider how these theaters dominated urban streetscapes or blended into suburban shopping centers and malls.
Exhibiting Change will also feature a research focus on Atlanta, from early moviegoing on Peachtree Street to contemporary urban and suburban film consumption. This course not only offers students an opportunity to study twentieth century social and cultural history, but to consider local issues of historic preservation, public amusements, and urban planning and development.
This course examines the history of moviegoing in the United States in order to place it in a larger cultural context, while also examining changes in American culture, leisure time practices, as well as social, class, gender, and racial formation. Gender, and its relationship to moviegoing audiences and labor within the movie theater, will be a consistent topic throughout. Race will also play a key part in our study of moviegoing, from the physical segregation of audiences in a single viewing space to theaters voluntarily or involuntarily separated from the mainstream, commercial exhibition market. Throughout the course, the influence of war and wartime content will also be discussed, including the movie theater’s role as a recruitment center during both world wars.
The second half of this course will closely examine post-war America, the impact of television, racial integration, and the migration to suburbia. The course will also relate the economic decline of American downtowns with the loss of (older) movie theaters and habitual moviegoing. Thus, an examination of suburban sprawl, urban planning, and racial divisions will be a key component of this course. Architecture and design will also be a focus and course readings will consider how these theaters dominated urban streetscapes or blended into suburban shopping centers and malls.
Exhibiting Change will also feature a research focus on Atlanta, from early moviegoing on Peachtree Street to contemporary urban and suburban film consumption. This course not only offers students an opportunity to study twentieth century social and cultural history, but to consider local issues of historic preservation, public amusements, and urban planning and development.
Required Textbooks, Articles, and Resources
- 2008. Going to the Movies: Hollywood and the Social Experience of the Cinema. ISBN: 9780859898126.
- Readings on reserve..
The schedule of courses on O.P.U.S. is the official listing of courses, including days and times they meet and the General Education Requirements they satisfy. Students should use course descriptions as general guidelines. Course requirements, grading details, book lists, and syllabi are subject to change.