Narratives exist in an ambivalent relationship with the ideologies that inhabit and shape a culture.
They can mobilize dominant ideologies and serve as vehicles for their dissemination, or they can undercut such dominance and give seductive shape to new and subversive ideologies. We will investigate the relationship of narrative to ideology by using films as our primary narrative texts. The course combines detailed interpretation of the structure of individual films with film criticism and cultural theory. It will meet once a week, in the evening, for at least four hours. Classes begin at 7 and tend to run past 11.