Popular Literature

Subtitle: Popular Novels & Film

This course will look at the development of different genres of popular novels, focusing on what have since become “classics,” as well as the development of popular film genres as filmmakers sought to bring the narratives to the screen.

These are the pairs of works we will study:
Horror and birth of science fiction:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
James Whale, Frankenstein (1931)

Gothic Romance
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847)
William Wyler, Wuthering Heights (1939)

Children’s Series
L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1901)
Victor Fleming and various others, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Western
Alan Le May, The Searchers (1954)
John Ford, The Searchers (1956)

Here’s Johnny
Stephen King, The Shining (1977)
Stanley Kubrick, The Shining (1980)

Science Fiction
Phillip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1964)
Ridley Scott, Blade Runner, Director’s Cut (1992)

Gothic Romance, Redux
Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire (1976)
Neil Jordan, Interview with the Vampire (1994)

Graphic Novel/Science Fiction
Ta Nehisi Coates, Black Panther (2016-)
Ryan Coogler, Black Panther (2018)

Major Assignments
Reading Quizzes
One report on author/director
Reading Log
Take Home Midterm (Essay)
Take Home Final (Essay)