Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0265 - Death and Dying in Film, Video and Media Arts: A Seminar

In this class, we will not only be looking at death as the "only absolute in life," that either "shadows or illuminates our lives," but also the way it is represented in contemporary film, video, and media. We could argue that death is the ultimate "media event" in contemporary society. When we are talking about cyborgs, vampires, terrorism, dead princesses, immortal artists, we are thinking about death. However, we will also be looking at social justice movements that defy undignified representations of death and dying such as black joy and Black Lives Matter, The Order of the Good Death, and the socio-political circumstances that surround them, such as social unrest, police brutality, denial of death, catastrophic events and war. This course is a seminar-based class where students will be presenting PowerPoint presentations, still and moving image projects, papers and discussions to engage with the readings and screenings discussed in class.

Independent Work Lab fee: $65. Prerequisite: Video I or any film production course. Students can generally expect to spend an additional 8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.