ENGL 164 - Film as Literature

Credits: 5
Students view and then write about films through a literary analysis lens using both literary and film terms and techniques in order to interpret and analyze them. Students discuss and write about the films focusing on themes, symbolism, genre, social and historical context, bias, points of view, plot development, and character development. Course also uses scripts and a film as literature textbook for deeper exploration of the films.

Enrollment Requirement: Eligible for ENGL 99 or instructor consent.

Satisfies Requirement: Humanities/Fine Arts/English
Course Fee: $2.00

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

View films with a critical eye versus “passive watching.”
Identify basic literary terms and techniques as well as basic film terminology in order to develop the tools needed to discuss and write about the films analytically.
Recognize and discuss specific film genres.
Discuss themes, symbolism, social and historical context, bias, points of view, plot development, and character development in the films.
Write critical analyses and evaluations of the selected films.
Apply critical thinking and multiple strategies of interpretation of the films. including theoretical and literary critical frameworks such as poetics, feminism/gender politics, class and race politics, psychoanalysis, historical contexts, mythological contexts, and so on.

Program Outcomes
Students will demonstrate college-level reading skills by summarizing, analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing, and evaluating college texts; and develop an awareness of the approaches writers use for different audiences, genres, and rhetorical situations.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.