LS 776 - Thinking through Genre

(3.00 cr.)

This course considers what it means to create, experience, and analyze through the lens of genre. How does understanding a work of art or popular culture as a kind or type, and subsequently interpreting it with and against such expectations, affect how we order and make sense of the world? How does genre both constrict and enable? Students read theorists of the concept of genre, as well as critics writing about specific genres, and apply what they learn to two of the following four genres (as chosen by students): the western, romantic comedy, film-noir, and horror.