Spring 2018 DAC Courses

Hello DAC Students

Here are the DAC courses being offered in the Spring 2018 semester. If you have any questions please let us know. Don’t forget to sign up! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break. http://uwm.edu/schedule/index.cfm?a1=subject_details&subject=DAC&strm=2182

Also, here are several courses we’d like to highlight.

ENG/FILMSTD 290

This course introduces students to the basics of film analysis, cinematic formal elements, genre, and narrative structure and helps students develop the skills to recognize, analyze, describe and enjoy film as an art and entertainment form. To understand how films are constructed to make meaning and engage audiences, students will be introduced to the basic “building blocks” and formal elements (narrative, mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing) that make up the film as well as some fundamental principles of analysis, genre, style, performance and storytelling. The class includes weekly readings, screenings, and short writing assignments. All readings will be available online on D2L.

ENG/FILMSTD 383

This course surveys the development of horror film from 1985 until the present. We will look at a diverse array of global horror in order to address questions around the form, use, and context of the genre. What does it mean to be scared? How have our definitions of visual and aural terror changed over the past three decades? How should we define the impact of gender, race, class, and sexuality in horror film? What effects has the globalized film industry had upon the genre? What are some of the political dimensions of contemporary horror film? While we will follow a generally chronological structure, we will engage deeply with multivalent themes beyond historical change. Students will be expected to read thoroughly in order to participate consistently in seminar conversations. There will be no required books; all readings will be digitized on D2L. A note: the films screened will be very intense, very violent, and very scary in multiple ways. Please do not sign up for this course if you are not an experienced horror spectator and are not able to handle difficult imagery.

Specific topics we’ll address include Lovecraftian/cosmic horror, irony, Japanese horror, Korean new wave, new French extremism, remakes, torture porn, teen screams, and nostalgia. Films screened in class may include the following: From Beyond (Stuart Gordon, 1986); Hellraiser (Clive Barker, 1987); Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter, 1987); Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992); Scream (Wes Craven, 1996); Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998); Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000); 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002); A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Jee-Woon, 2003); High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003); The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005); The Devil’s Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005); Frontier(s) (Xavier Gans, 2007); Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson, 2008); Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008); The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009); The Loved Ones (Sean Byrne, 2009); We Are What We Are (Jorge Michel Grau, 2010); I Saw the Devil (Kim Jee-Woon, 2010); Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez, 2013); The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014); and Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017).

JAMS 101

This course is an introduction to the most significant forms of media in society, including newspapers, magazines, radio, television, film, video games, and the internet.  It considers media as both news and entertainment, in commercial and non-commercial form, of the past and present. The course is organized topically, centering on three central functions of media in western (and primarily American) society: as a business, as a shaper of identity, and as civic culture. Readings, lectures, and discussions will provide both historical background and present-day understandings of media from these three perspectives.