249. Hollywood Genres
What makes a western a western, a musical a musical? For Hollywood, genre has historically served as a form of product differentiation organized around specific narrative codes and conventions. Genres reveal much about how Hollywood interacts with and responds to shifts in audience tastes and cultural values. The course will introduce students to a variety of Hollywood genres and theories of generic formation in order to increase our understanding of the commercial, artistic and ideological function of genres. Required weekly film viewing.
(Josh Stenger)
Connections:
Conx 20034 The Historical Context of Contemporary American Culture