REL 310.001
REL Goes to the Movies
T | 6:00pm-9:00pm
Gordon Palmer 208
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This is a 1 credit course (offered each semester) with monthly films and discussions, in which students learn to apply the skills necessary to understand the analysis of wider cultural practices and issues that can be carried out by a scholar of religion using social theory. The films selected are possibly known to students but likely old enough that they have not been seen or studied in any detail. Students will consider them as each works of their time, asking whether their themes and cinematic styles stand up to a contemporary viewing or if they cannot be seen as anything but historical artifacts.
Students write brief commentaries on the films; this course is repeatable for up to 3 hours.
This course meets: Aug 23, Sept 13, Oct 11, Nov 1, and Nov 29.
The films we will watch this semester are: North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock dir., 1959); Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick dir., 1964); Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (Stanley Kramer dir., 1967); 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick dir., 1968); Mulholland Drive (David Lynch dir., 2001) — click the titles to view a trailer.
Open to all students; RSSA members are invited to attend the films, even if unregistered and many REL lower-level classes often use this course for extra credit opportunities.
Russell T. McCutcheon
- Office hours:
By appointment
- (205) 310-7546
- russell.mccutcheon@ua.edu
Readings
To be announced in class.