Course Description
This course is a cluster of distinct courses (topics may vary semester to semester) with shared goals and learning outcomes. All sections of CORE 1010 aim to introduce students to university-level academic study and the meaning and values of a liberal arts education. Through varied section topics, readings, films and other media, discussions and assignments, CORE 1010 will help students adapt and succeed in today’s university environment, as they develop their skills in critical thinking, information literacy, teamwork, and effective reading and communication. Courses focus on issues of lasting value and current relevance for students, and address questions such as “Who am I?” “What do citizenship and civic responsibility mean?” “How do I know what is true?” and “What is a good life?”
Course Theme
For centuries, visionaries have sought to create what they think is the ideal society where moral virtues, justice and beauty prevails. From Plato’s Republic, to Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, classical and popular literature is rife with examples of imagined utopias that promise harmony and happiness for their citizens... but with a catch! Ironically, as they transform into more rigorous systems to ensure their success, these imagined utopias often turn into their very opposite: dystopias.
Even as we aspire to create the perfect world, we find that our visions collide with or contain within them the seeds of corruption: totalitarian nightmares, environmental disasters, hyper digitality and technological domination. Film, literature, and art reveal the double bind of this endeavor and our despair at overcoming our destructive and domineering selves.
This course gives freshmen the opportunity to explore these constructed worlds of ideals and how we can perhaps escape the dichotomy through the exploration of the alternate world of fantasy: a ‘middle earth’ battleground where the norms can be suspended and tensions between utopias and dystopias can be resolved.
Students will look at literary and cinematic portrayals of utopia and dystopia like Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four, as well as various propaganda documentaries, manifestos, and satirical texts.
As they reflect upon these worlds in time of upheaval and opportunity, they transfer this knowledge to their own worlds and their visions for a better life.
Course Outcomes