EGL 290 - Studies in Film Genre/Style: American New Wave Cinema: Revels, Revolutionaries, and the Rewriting of a Nation

Course Units: 1.0

Over the course of the term, we will analyze the history and aesthetics of genre categories and their revisions with respect to specific codes and characteristics, audience expectations, technological developments, and publicity practices. In our investigation of the question of genre, we will engage such key concepts in film theory as authorship, narrative, mise-en-scène, suture, spectatorship, and the gaze. As we seek to understand why genres gain popularity in certain historical moments and the ways in which genres are revised, we will employ a variety of critical tools, drawn from genre theory, critical race studies, environmental studies, and theories of gender and sexuality.

This term we will explore the radical transformation of American cinema in the late 1960s and 1970s, during the New Wave era. Influenced by global cinematic movements, political upheaval, and social change, films from this time broke with classical Hollywood conventions to reflect a nation in crisis and transition. We will examine how American New Wave filmmakers addressed issues pertaining to the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, the sexual revolution, drug culture, and the growing distrust of government and institutional authority. Special attention will be paid to neo-noir cinema as a lens for exploring moral ambiguity, alienation, and urban decay-key anxieties of the era. From Taxi Driver to Chinatown, The Parallax View to Klute, students will analyze how these films express the fractured ideals of a generation raised on the American Dream and betrayed by its reality.

As part of the course, we will run a public film series at Proctors Theatre, designing promotional materials, hosting discussions, and engaging with the local community in dialogue about the historical and contemporary resonance of cinematic works from this era. Prerequisite(s): One 100-level English course or a score of 5 on the AP English Language or Literature and Composition test. CQ: HUM, WAC, JLIT, JSPE ISP: AMS, FLM