This course will examine a selection of films with respect to literary genre. We will focus on tragedy and comedy, considering how the socio-poetical divergence in these two principal forms often provides the tension that drives the on-screen drama. Of particular interest will be the translation of the respective realms of tragedy and comedy into the dynamics of cinematic space. While the films under examination will furnish a new perspective on certain literary-critical mainstays, including Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis and Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism, the cinema will be treated as a unique, at times transformative intervention in the history of these key genres.

Satisfies General Education Requirements:

• Group-Satisfying: Arts and Letters
• Multicultural Courses: International Cultures (IC)