English 383-001, Cinema and Genre: Gangster,
MTWR 12:30pm-3:10pm, Instructor: Martin

The Hollywood gangster genre emerged out of a number of historical and cultural forces that were coming to dominate the American imagination in the early 1930s: the rise of the urban-industrial metropolis, the consolidation and diffusion of the immigrant experience, the fading of the Protestant Ethic, the erosion of the frontier myth, and the national demographic shift towards urban life-styles. The technology of filmmaking had also changed with the coming of sound, creating the possibilities for two of Hollywood's most enduring genres: the musical and the gangster films. In this course we will focus on the development of the gangster genre from 1932 to the present, taking special note of generic changes and shifts in cinematic styles that have allowed the genre to remain compelling to a wide audience.

In class screening will probably include the following: Little Caesar, Scarface, Public Enemy, Angles with Dirty Faces, White Heat, Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather I and II, The Usual Suspects, Heat, and American Gangster.

Reading: The Gangster Film Reader by Silver and Ursini, which will be available from the UWM Bookstore and Panther Books.