Black Cinema in the US: Visual Aesthetics and Radical Possibilities
FILM 396
Spring 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AFAM 395 |
What is Black Cinema? Is it, as Tommy Lott has claimed, a critical intervention that resists the "Hollywood master narrative"? Or, as Michael Gillespie asserts, does it enact, perform, and modulate the visual possibilities of Blackness in ways that exceed any representational commitment to an authentic "Black lifeworld"? This class does not aspire toward answering these questions; rather, it turns the prism of the discourse surrounding Blackness and cinematic visuality onto the stakes, aesthetics, and radical imagination of what we will encounter as Black Cinema. This class explores Black Cinema in the United States, examining the works of filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux, Melvin Van Peebles, Julie Dash, Bill Gunn, Kathleen Collins, Boots Riley, Terrance Nance, and more. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA FILM |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: FILM304 OR FILM307 |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(FILM-MN)(FILM) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Michael Gillespie, FILM BLACKNESS
Various: James Snead, bell hooks, Tommy Lott, Patrice Douglass, Calving Warren, Frank Wilderson
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Examinations and Assignments:
Participation,
Two short papers,
Presentation,
Final paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Ball,Kevin Dwight Times: ..T.R.. 01:20PM-04:40PM; Location: CFS100; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 20 | | SR major: 6 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 16 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: X | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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