POL 290 - Seminar in Politics, Literature and the Arts

FDR: SS2
Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Set by instructor, varies with topic. In this course, we study how literature, film, and other media are used to examine political themes and how they are used to achieve political ends. We address how politics shapes the arts and how the arts shape politics. The topic is announced at registration. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Only one such seminar may be counted towards the politics major.

Spring 2020, POL 290-02: Seminar in Politics, Literature and the Arts: Dystopian Fiction, Horror, and Politics (3). An examination of the political commentary included in dystopian fiction and horror novels and films. Through the analysis of seminal novels such as 1984 and Brave New World, and more recent films such as US, students assess different political concepts, including power, government, freedom, and equality. Literature and film can offer the most mesmerizing yet frightening depictions of our present and future world. At the same time, they can provide us with the opportunity to critically compare our contemporary experiences to those portrayed in them. Our main goal is to critically assess the role of the government and powerful actors in our society. We complement our analysis with a variety of academic readings and opinion pieces. (SS2) Ponce de Leon.