In this course we will screen and analyze all sorts of movies with explicit political subject matter - from Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, to Studio Ghibli's Valley of the Wind, and documentaries like How to Survive a Plague (about AIDS activists) to consider a.) if and how great art can be made about explicitly political themes and b.) how these films are understood by us now during a time of political turmoil. We'll ask how past crises can inform the present, and how culture in general can forcefully respond to an era of crackdowns, political exclusions, and climate change. Students will present on the films over the course of the seminar and that work will culminate in the creation of a podcast in which the films we screen:= (and others) will be reviewed for a wider audience.
Prerequisites
Be in the Honors Program