ENGL 264 - Shakespeare on Film

Credits: 5
Analyze several of Shakespeare’s plays and how they are adapted and portrayed on film. Study the original text (complete plays and/or excerpts) and one or more film adaptations of those plays, interpret and analyze themes and cultural parallels and modern relevancy. Apply film terms, literary analysis, and cultural analysis (including class, race, and gender issues).

Enrollment Requirement: Eligible for ENGL 99 or instructor consent.

Satisfies Requirement: Humanities/Fine Arts/English
Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

Discuss Shakespeare’s themes and messages, the historical and cultural contexts of the plays, and literary techniques within the plays (themes, characterization. poetic language, symbolism, for example).
Evaluate the film adaptations of certain plays including analysis of the directors· choices within those subjective adaptations of the original plays such as close or loose adaptations, changes made, comparisons of the same scene by different directors, settings, character depictions and casting, time line and choices to change the time in history for which a play is set. historical context and social issues from Shakespeare’s time translated to modern times, and other choices that affect the differences among adaptations of the same plays.
Apply various forms of literary criticism approaches to their analyses of the plays and films. (For example, feminist criticism. social and historical criticism. racial and cultural bias criticism, Marxist criticism, post-modern criticism, psychological criticism, and film methodology criticism including application of specific film terms and analysis and critique of decisions by the directors. etc.)

Program Outcomes

Produce effective written communication, which demonstrates critical thinking; writing and research processes; and knowledge of genres for workplace, expository, or research writing.
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.