Comparative Literature 233 Literature and Film: Myth, Fantasy and the Creative Imagination
Are fantasy and the fairy tale genres in which one may best escape reality, or are they instruments that enable us to explore truths that are inaccessible to scientific reason? Do dreams or fantasies offer haven when reality itself has become a nightmare, or do they render us more vulnerable to the dangers that may arise out of unbearable circumstances? In this course, students will read literary narratives and view films that examine both the wonders and the pitfalls of the creative imagination.

English 293 Literature and Media: The Graphic Novel
In this course we will look at the graphic novel as going beyond the comic book, in theme and artistic representation. Not only will we look at the super hero, we will also look at horror, biography, manga, and history. They all will be represented in the form unique to the graphic novel. This is not the DC and Marvel comics you might read off the local racks, this is so much more. Comic Book Nation and Understanding Comics will be the background texts. The novels and non fiction texts include: The Watchmen, 30 Days of Night, Maus 1, Captian America: The New Deal, The Ring, Crumb's: Introducing Kafka, and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Endless Nights.

English 316 World Cinema: Mexican and Cuban Cinema
This course examines the cinematic practices of Mexico and Cuba, two Latin American countries that have greatly contributed to the development of the cinemas both of the Americas and of the whole world. The specific political and economic situations of Mexico and Cuba have provided very particular contexts for the creation of films that seek to use cinema to construct distinctive versions of these countries' histories and national imaginaries.

English 320 Studies in Film Authorship: John Sayles and Jim Jarmusch
Students in this course will examine closely the work of two major US independent film directors, John Sayles and Jim Jarmusch. Between 1980 and the present, Sayles and Jarmusch have worked to create their own visions of what movies in the US should be. Along with watching several films directed by each, we will be reading a selection of film authorship theory and criticism to explore how these visions reflect the state of US culture and of film production during this period. Possible screenings include: The Return of the Secaucus Seven, City of Hope, Lone Star, Stranger Than Paradise, Dead Man, and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

English 320-001 Studies in Film Authorship: Global Authors
The course examines the work of a group of filmmakers who have had the opportunity of making films in at least three different national contexts B due to particular working conditions/opportunities (co productions) and/or to their multinational identities. We will simultaneously employ and question the notions of film authorship and globalization to explore the continuities and discontinuities found in each author's cinematic oeuvre, particularly in relation to the dialogue extant between films and the social, cultural and economic discourses of different countries depicted. A partial list of filmmakers and their representative work that will be studied in the course includes: Guillermo del Toro: Cronos (Mexico), Mimic (USA), El espinazo del diablo (Spain); Ang Lee: Wedding Banquet (Taiwan, USA), Sense and Sensibility (UK, USA), The Ice Storm (USA), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (USA, Hong Kong , China, Taiwan); Mira Nair: Salaam Bombay! (India, UK, France), Mississippi Masala (USA), Monsoon Wedding (India, USA, France, Italy), Vanity Fair (UK, USA); Wim Wenders: Alice in the Cities (USA, Germany), The State of Things (Germany, Portugal, USA), A Notebook on Clothes and Cities (Germany, Japan), Until the End of the World (Germany, France, Australia).

English 383 Cinema and Genre: The Road Film
The course focuses on the body of U.S. films, from the late-1960s to the present, popularly and loosely called "road movies". The course provides a dynamic exploration of this generic category, and its place in contemporary U.S. film history as well as in the cultural construction of the U.S. social imaginary. In our exploration of road movies, we will pay special attention both to questions related to narrative structure (particularly the articulation of time and space as well as the construction of characters often marginalized from dominant society) and to the particular cinematic elements utilized in this genre. Films screenings will include Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider, Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop, Johnathan Wacks's Pow-wow Highway, Gregg Araki's The Living End, Jon Jost's Frameup, Riddley Scott's Thelma & Louise, Abbe Wool's Roadside Prophets and David Lynch's The Straight Story.

English 383 Cinema and Genre: Film Noir
The emphasis of this course will be the Film Noir genre as it is expressed visually and thematically. Through discussions and course readings, students will explore the origins of Film Noir, the Noir visual style, and the cultural, historical, psychological, sociological, and gender issues that are typically reflected in Noir narratives.

English 743 Film Studies
This course provides an in-depth introduction to the history of the field (including the history of film theory and debates about film and the other arts, film and reality, and film and the spectator/audience), and considers multiple approaches to film analysis. Students will explore recent innovations in the field, exploring the increasingly complex and convergent relationships among film, television, the internet, and other areas of popular culture in an era of globalization.

English 876 Seminar in Mass Culture: Global Media
The relationship among Culture, Globalization and Media (as real forces and conceptual terms) is at the center of this graduate seminar. We will read and analyze key theoretical works and debates that take up this relationship and examine how these debates have themselves become the stuff of global media culture. In the first half of the semester we will work through major themes such as Cultural Imperialism, Media ownership, national and post-national film and media, migrant cultures, East/West cultural flows (the Asian film industry in particular), and fictions of globalization. In the second half of the semester we will take up particular case studies in literature, film and digital media. The course includes weekly readings, a brief weekly reading/argument summary, film screenings and a final project.

Film Studies 590 Seminar in Contemporary Film Theory
This writing- and reading-intensive seminar explores contemporary film and media theory, with particular attention to questions of modernization, globalization, nationalism and internationalism. Students are required to attend two on-campus (although international) conferences in April as part of the requirement for this course. The first conference focuses on contemporary Latin American and Caribbean cinema; the second conference focuses on internet culture and governance. Readings and screenings will allow us to consider recent debates and discussions about the future of cinema in an increasingly globalized and wired world. Films screened and discussed in class include of Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice), Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai), Life and Nothing More (Abbas Kiarostami)...among other titles.