Film & Media Studies 108 - True Crime: Unlearning Media

(Offered as ENGL 108 and FAMS 108) This course will survey the origins of true crime alongside the recent boom in true crime documentary films, series, and podcasts in order to understand what drives the voracious public appetite for crime stories. We will seek out alternative and missing narratives that help us to more accurately understand why the world feels like a scary place, and point to ways to fix it. 

We will engage a wide range of media materials, including police procedurals (Dragnet; COPS), novels (In Cold Blood), trial films (Saint Omer), documentary series (OJ: Made in America), and podcasts (Serial; My Favorite Murder); and readings by critics, filmmakers, journalists, cultural historians, and film scholars. Students will become familiar with audiovisual analysis and using close readings of media texts to support persuasive, well-constructed arguments. The course will emphasize outlining, drafting, and revision practices, all of which will be assessed holistically. Assignments will include low-stakes in-class activities as well as three essays. Students should expect a mixture of class discussion, handwritten in-class essay writing and peer review, plus a weekly in-person screening. 

True Crime is part of a module of 100-level introductory Film and Media Studies courses called UNLEARNING MEDIA that teach new ways of understanding or making media by “unlearning” what we believe we know about them. Focusing on a range of contemporary media phenomena, and taught by FAMS instructors specializing in critical studies, creative practices, or both, Unlearning Media courses examine our relationships with media forms, devices, or practices that we secretly love, openly resent, or have simply stopped noticing. By turning things sideways, pausing on unexpected details, or taking the time to explore hidden alleyways and histories, we will discover how media get under our skin and shape what we believe to be true—and how they might yet unlock our imagination of what could be.

Five spots reserved for juniors and seniors. Limited to 25 students. Fall semester. Professor Rangan.

How to handle overenrollment: 5 spots will be reserved for juniors and seniors. If over-enrolled preference will be given to (1) first year students and (2) students intending to major in Film and Media Studies.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: weekly readings and film screenings; regular writing assignments; audiovisual analysis; independent and group work; in-class discussion.