COURSE INFORMATION

SGL Name: Dr. Ashley Dun

Course Meeting Times/Dates: March 13-April 10; Second Period; Thursdays, 11:10-12:35 PM ET

Contact information of SGL: adun@brandeis.edu

ZOOM Link for Course Meetings: https://brandeis.zoom.us/j/94573965968

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will explore how films of the Cold War period, specifically from the early 1950s to the late 1970s, portrayed foreign and racial otherness. We will ask if such films reinforced or even created racial stereotypes of Black, Asian, and Indigenous peoples, communicating negative ideas about entire marginalized communities. Did such portrayals serve larger ideological means? Did they perpetuate or sustain anxieties about protecting white American values from "foreign" invasions? Or do aspects of these films offer more nuanced portrayals of people of color that prompt us to think more critically about such broader political themes? What constitutes a racial stereotype and what constitutes an "authentic" or well-rounded representation? Even if a film portrays only white characters, can racial and foreign otherness be represented through metaphor and symbolism, such as through the figure of an alien invader?

This course will take place virtually on Zoom. Participation requires a device (ideally a computer rather than a cell phone) with a camera and microphone in good working order and basic familiarity with using Zoom and accessing email. We will watch one film per week. The genres of film we watch will be various, ranging from a Western, two war films, a sci-fi/horror movie, and a political thriller. Please view the list of films below:

Broken Arrow (1950)

The Steel Helmet (1951)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The films are either available for free on the internet or will be made available through upload.