HNAR-313A: An Eye on Sci-Fi

This course will examine significant examples of the sci-fi film genre from its early development to the present. Social, economic, aesthetic and technological filmic intentions will be considered as well as their literature and historical counterparts. The course will consider various inferences of utopias and dystopias, ecological forecasts and concerns, gadgetry and technology mystification and demystification, aliens and such varieties of otherness as well as when the genre flows into other film categories such as horror, romance and comedy. The course will be defined with lectures, discussions, screenings, readings, and research/writing assignments; allowing students to analyze the distinctive traits of the sci-fi genre, its successes, its spoofs as well as it cascades of clichés. This course introduces students to the essentials of film analysis, cinematic formal elements, genre and narrative structure and supports students to develop skills to recognize, analyze, and describe the complications of our vast film record.