This course will bring together the two fields in order to understand how they might inform each other. Genre can teach us about the structural and historical circumstances through which popular cinema has held its sway over the imaginations of millions of viewers, while cultural studies can provide questions as to how those very formal and historical features of films come to mean different things for different kinds of viewers. In each case, we will begin with more canonical texts that have functioned as the centerpieces of intellectual inquiry into film genres, and then we will move forward in time in order to understand how genres change ideologically and historically. I encourage you to consider films outside the syllabus, and to read critically the essays with which we will engage. While I will not take roll, part of your final course grade derives from your class participation, so attendance does bear upon your final evaluation.
All papers are due at the beginning of the class session.
Papers will be marked down a grade for every class session they are late. These questions are structured as a way of inviting other class members to approach the course materials in a particular way, and can and should be done in small groups. There will be a sign up sheet passed around for this purpose. A presentation is weighted as one paper grade. Please note that this syllabus is subject to change and you are responsible for such changes as they are announced.