2010-2011 Academic Catalog

Dec 21, 2024

2010-2011 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

COMM 296 - Capstone Course - Variable topics

This course begins with an examination of the micro-budget horror film Paranormal Activity (2007)—an extreme case of a film that terrifies audiences by showing us almost nothing overtly scary—and then works backward through the history of cinema and television to uncover the precedents that make such a film possible. In terms of genre, our focus will be threefold. First, we will analyze a series of lack-centered classic horror films such as The Invisible Man (1933), The Uninvited (1944), The Haunting (1963), and The Changeling (1980). Second, we will examine a quasi-genre we might call the “micro-budget pseudo-documentary,” including films such as David Holzman’s Diary (1967), 84C MoPic (1989), and Ghostwatch (1992). Lastly, we will work to theorize contemporary digital cinema’s fetishization of lo-fi camcorder footage in films such as The Blair Witch Project (1999), Caché (2005) and Cloverfield (2008). We will also talk a bit about representations of purportedly “real” paranormal events, such as the Patterson-Gimlin bigfoot film (1967) and the McPherson alien abduction tape (1997)—not that anyone actually believes in such rubbish. The broad purpose of the course, then, is to advance a theory of uncanny horror in relation to cheap production values, technological malfunction, and bodily non-presence. Grading will be based largely on short response essays and a final term paper.

Prerequisites: SCRN 101 or Permission.

Cross Listed: SCRN 291

Instructor: Mr. Manon

When Offered: Offered periodically.

Faculty: Hugh Manon, Ph.D. -