COURSE DESCRIPTION

Examines selected topics in the United States history, which shaped the American experience, presented in film. Lecture 3 hours per week.

GENERAL COURSE PURPOSE

This course examines selected significant events, movements, and personalities from America’s social, cultural, and intellectual development in light of the perceived and historical truths. The content material contrasts the "mythology" surrounding these events with the actual facts in order to provide a broader view of the circumstances prompting behaviors.

ENTRY LEVEL COMPETENCIES

None recommended.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. To provide students with an overview of selected significant events, movements, and personalities that have shaped American history.
2. To expose students to significant films that have depicted these events, movements, and personalities.
3. To expose students to significant texts that have recounted these events, movements, and personalities.
4. To demonstrate the interrelationships between the film depictions and the textual accounts and the socio-cultural milieu in which each was created.
5. To foster critical thinking and evaluation of historical media.

The course content will include a variety of film and textual resources that may include, but not be limited to, the following, as selected by the instructor:

1. Pocahontas (Gabriel, 1995) and "The General History of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles" (John Smith).
2. 1776 (Hunt, 1972) and The Declaration of Independence
3. The Crucible (Hytner,1996) and the Salem Witch Trials
4. The Patriot (Emmerich, 2000) v. The American Revolution in the South
5. The President’s Lady (Levin, 1953); The Buccaneer (Quinn, 1958) and Andrew Jackson’s life
6. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Pollard, 1927) and the Abolitionist Movement
7. Red Badge of Courage (Houston, 1951) and the American Civil War
8. Abraham Lincoln (Griffith, 1930) and the life of Abraham Lincoln
9. Tennessee Johnson (Dieterle, 1942) and Andrew Johnson and Presidential impeachment's
10. The Buffalo Soldiers (Armstrong, 1992; Haid, 1997) and the U. S. 9^th and 10^th Cavalry Regiments
11. They Died with Their Boots On (Walsh, 1941) and Gen. George A. Custer
12. The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915) and American Reconstruction
13. Sergeant York (Hawks, 1941) and Alvin York, Medal of Honor recipient, and WW I
14. The Dawn Patrol (Hawks, 1930) and WW I aviation
15. All the King’s Men (Rossen, 1941) and Southern politics; fictionalized Huey Long
16. Inherit the Wind (Kramer, 1960) and evolution in education (Scopes Monkey Trial)
17. The Grapes of Wrath (Ford, 1940) and the American Depression and Dust Bowl
18. The Babe Ruth Story (Del Ruth, 1948) and early 20C. American sports
19. Jim Thorpe-All-American (Curtiz, 1951) and early 20C. American sports
20. The Green Pastures (Connelly, Keighly, 1963) and African-American theology
21. Midway (Smight, 1976); Thin Red Line (Malick, 1998) and WW II.
22. Citizen Cohn (?, 1992); Fear on Trial (Johnson, 1975) and McCarthyism
23. The Right Stuff (Kaufman, 1983) and early American space flight
24. Malcolm X (Lee, 1992) and American Civil Rights movement
25. JFK (Stone, 1991) and the Kennedy assassination
26. Medium Cool (Wexler, 1969) and the 1968 Democratic Convention and Chicago Riots
27. All the President’s Men (Pakula, 1976) and Watergate
28. Before Stonewall (Rosenberg et al., 1984); After Stonewall (Scagliotti, 1999) and the Gay Movement
29. Birdy (?, 1984); Platoon (Stone, 1986); Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick, 1987) and Viet Nam
30. Boyz N the Hood (Singleton, 1991) and Inner-city life.