Film Genres: The Western
FILM 389
Spring 2025
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01
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Once the most popular Hollywood genre for decades, the Western still has a palpable impact on the form and content of present-day cinema. This course is devoted to aesthetic and cultural analysis of key films belonging to the Western genre throughout its more than 100-year history. Our aesthetic approaches will include discussions of typical components of the Western, authorship in the Western, narrative structure, and the construction of the West via visual space and sound. Our cultural analysis will place particular emphasis on the myth of the frontier, the relationship between the Western and political rhetoric, and the genre's treatment of race, ethnicity, and gender. Roughly equal weight will be placed on these two approaches. We will also address the historical trajectory of the Western from its early silent days through its decline in the early 1970s to its present-day status. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA FILM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: FILM304 AND FILM307 |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (FILM-MN)(FILM) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Slotkin, Richard GUNFIGHTER NATION:THE MYTH OF THE FRONTIER IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICA
Additional essays provided by professor
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Examinations and Assignments:
2 long papers, plus either a short paper or an oral presentation
Class participation |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
N/A |
| Instructor(s): Slowik,Michael Times: .M.W... 08:50AM-12:10PM; Location: CFS190; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 9 | JR major: 10 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 3 | 1st Ranked: 2 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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