Fall 2024 Film UN2134 section 001

American Film: The Western

American Film: The Wester

Call Number 13783
Day & Time
Location
M 10:10am-1:55pm
511 Dodge Hall
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor James A Schamus
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

This course surveys the first century of the American Western film genre, and its relation to American imaginings and ideologies of the “frontier,” with in-depth readings of key precursor texts, including memoirs, histories, novels, and essays. We will consider the evolution of the genre and its changing place within the film industry, and study exemplary films that established and challenged the genre’s narrative, aesthetic, and ideological conventions. We will explore how films engage with the history and myth of the American West. We will also be analyzing the politics of the Western, in particular how films articulate configurations of race, class, nation, sexuality and gender. And we will study the way Western films and filmmakers themselves interrogate the analytic categories we use to study them -- categories such as “genre” and “auteur” – with specific attention to the work and career of John Ford. Please note: the course requires sustained engagement with and analysis of written texts as well as films, so please be prepared for a bit more reading than what you might expect from a typical film survey course.

Web Site Vergil
Department Film
Enrollment 35 students (55 max) as of 4:06PM Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Subject Film
Number UN2134
Section 001
Division School of the Arts
Open To Barnard College, Columbia College, Engineering:Undergraduate, Global Programs, General Studies
Fee $75 Film Course Fee
Section key 20243FILM2134W001