Film & Media Studies 438 - The City in Lit and Film

Spring
2021
01
4.00
Lise Sanders
TTH 01:30PM-02:50PM; SU 07:00PM-09:00PM
Amherst College
FAMS-438-01-2021S
FAYE 117; ONLI ONLI
lsanders@amherst.edu
ENGL-485-01,FAMS-438-01

(Offered as ENGL 485 and FAMS 438) This course examines the role of the city in shaping modern experience. We will study literary works by Charles Baudelaire, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, and Virginia Woolf alongside a number of early films, reading these texts against historical and critical discussions of everyday life in the urban environment. Among other themes, we will take up the debate over “flanerie” as a spatial and social practice, investigating the class and gender dynamics of urban and cinematic spectatorship. Our conversations will be shaped by an awareness of the city as a geographically locatable space to be mapped and traversed, but also as a site for imaginary projections of individual and collective experience. In addition to a short creative assignment, two formal essays are required: a midterm paper (5-7 pages) involving close textual analysis of a primary source; and a final research paper (12-15 pages), with a draft to be revised in conjunction with a peer review workshop.

This course will run primarily online, with periodic small-group meetings for students who are in residence on campus and parallel small-group meetings for remote students. The additional evening time slot will provide opportunities for students to screen films and engage in structured small-group discussion synchronously, whether remotely or in person. There may be additional opportunities for in-person meetings (including office hours) as the semester progresses.

Requisite: A 200-level foundations course in English or equivalent. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor Sanders.

Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.