Memory and Violence in Literature and FilmModule Details

Background and Rationale
In this course we will explore the relationships between film and literature as forms of narrative. We will discuss the emergence of the cinematic art as a form of representation with emphasis on diverse cultural traditions. Specifically, we will be concerned with stories where issues of memory (i.e. recollection, nostalgia, memory loss, forgetting) and violence (i.e. crime, domestic violence, terrorism, trauma) are central. Our primary questions are: How does violence affect our ability to remember and shape the memories we construct? How does violence affect our experience of time? How do cinematic story tellers use composition, lighting, editing, sound, and focus to tell stories through images? How do literary storytellers use language, tone,
foreshadowing, irony, and prosody to tell stories through words? How do these two types of storytelling relate to and reference one another as they generate their power to affect an audience?

Learning Outcomes
After completion of the course students are expected to be able to:
 analyse, appreciate, and interpret significant works of art
 engage in informed observation and/or active participation in a discipline within the visual, spatial, and performing arts.
 understand some of the political, economic, cultural, physical, social, and philosophical aspects of one or more of the world's nations, peoples and cultures.
 recognize the role of national and international diversity in shaping their own attitudes and values as global citizens