MS 180 PO

This course surveys the history of the war film. Our focus will center mainly upon Hollywood cinema's depiction of warfare, but the course also expands beyond American borders to explore the genre in a global context. While the Hollywood war film can often serve as a platform for glorifying armed conflict and celebrating the heroism of the combatant, it has also historically been a site of political and ideological critique, and has served as a barometer of the social mood and public perception of warfare. Throughout the semester we will examine representations of war in cinema across the 20th century and into the 21st century, tracking its impact and its aftermath at the level of the political and social, but also at the level of the subjective and the psychological. We will develop the critical and theoretical frameworks necessary to grapple with aesthetics of violence, reading work from Prince, Massumi, Baurillard, Virilio, Foucault, and Scarry, among others. Topics will include, torture, preemption, genocide, trauma, deterrence, revenge, reintegration and forgiveness. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: MS 050 PO or equivalent.