This course will look at two narrative genres by looking at how these
representational systems—the novel and film—structure what we see, what we
don’t see, and, ultimately, how we see. Both film and the novel are narrative
genres that rely on point of view; however, the “subjective,”
interiorized perspective of the novel, a print literary genre, differs
significantly from the seemingly objective perspective of film, a visual genre.
The role of imagination—of “seeing” what doesn’t (not yet, at any
rate) exist—is as important as the “blind spots” that may be created
by the selective focus required by both genres. Our focus, then, for the course
will include a genre that spans both novel and film: science fiction and the
role of the IMAGE-inary in shaping perception and reality.
Major Texts
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein,
or, A Modern Prometheus (1818)
Philip K. Dick, Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
William Gibson, Count
Zero (1986)
Additional, shorter, reading assignments (on Laulima)
will also be required
Major
Films
Fritz Lang, Metropolis
(1927)
James Whale, Frankenstein
(1931)
Ridley Scott, Blade
Runner (1982, 1992, 2007)
Ridley Scott, Prometheus
(2012)
Major Requirements
Reading Blogs
Homework
Assignments
Midterm
Three 3-4 page
essays will be required; at least one must be revised
Final Exam:
Take home, essay-type exam
Attendance and
Participation