The seminars
These Intersections seminars are coming in 2004. Check the schedule for an event near you.
Cinema and the City: Myths, Maps and the Metropolis in the Movies
Josh Stenger, assistant professor of English and film studies
From its inception, cinema has been fascinated by the city; yet film's use of urban space is never neutral. Motion pictures do not simply record the city, they edit and (re)assemble it. (Just think, a person who knows D.C. only through movies would likely believe it consists of a few iconic government buildings and memorials, and not much else.) In conjuring such highly selective geographies, cinema has produced a series of potent
cultural myths, as well as cultural landscapes where those myths are consumed and enacted. To be sure, filmed images of urban lifestyles and landscapes have, for decades, influenced our sense of everything from culture, tourism, romance and architecture to economic progress, class strife, sexual perversion and racial tension. In this seminar, we will view clips from a range of films and discuss the ways they map the American
metropolis, focusing especially on what we might learn from celluloid versions of Los Angeles, New York and, of course, Washington. We will have plenty of time to discuss a wide array of issues about film and urban space, so come ready to share your insights about movies, maps and more.
What Is Going On Here?
The Current Shape of United States Foreign Policy
Darlene Boroviak, professor of political science
What does the war in Iraq imply about major changes in the direction of United States foreign policy? United States leaders spent the first post-Cold War decade trying to find a direction for our foreign policy. Do our actions at the start of this second decade mean that we have found one? The current administration has articulated and begun to implement a security strategy that incorporates an argument for preventive war; a
defense policy that incorporates new spending on a new set of nuclear weapons; a global mission that involves ensuring that the United States remains the only superpower; and a lack of interest in sustained diplomacy in the Middle East and other conflict areas. There will be lots to discuss and lots of time for discussion in this seminar as together we try to discern and evaluate the global and domestic implications of the current directions of U.S. foreign policy.
Journeys
Evelyn Staudinger Lane, assistant professor of art
Faculty/student collaboration is a centerpiece on college campuses these days, often hailed as an important part of the academic experience at rigorous institutions in America. But how does one assess its contributions to the liberal arts college? And what is the value of this experience for both teacher and student? This talk examines the purpose, process and outcome of three facultystudent collaborations at Wheaton. One culminated in the publication of a 140-page catalogue of prints from the Wheaton College Collection, written by 15 students. Another resulted in a research trip to Paris and Chartres, and the third is currently going on. Its goal is a faculty publication on medieval stained glass, and its student participation is made possible through an exciting program called Wheaton Research Partners. Collaborations, as this talk will
argue, are much like journeys. Highly anticipated and remembered with fondness, they enrich the lives of those who take them, leaving the travelers with a yearning to return for more.
Etching for Rembrandt
Evelyn Staudinger Lane, assistant professor of art
Throughout history, artists have often favored one medium over another, gaining fame for their paintings, prints or drawings. Rembrandt, however, mastered all three and in the process was unsurpassed. This seminar complements the exhibition, "Rembrandt's Journey: Painter · Draftsman · Etcher," on view at the Art Institute of Chicago from Feb. 14 through May 9, 2004. Previous shows have centered on the Old Master solely as a painter, a printmaker or a draftsman. This blockbuster exhibition, organized in conjunction with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, brilliantly treats the nexus among all three, while placing Rembrandt's etchings into the context of his paintings and drawings, rather than as a consequence of each one. While this seminar will focus mostly on Rembrandt's prints, it will also present his work as a tapestry in which prints, paintings and drawings are interwoven in the fabric of the artist's life.
The 2004 Presidential Election: Is It Still a Sure Thing for Bush?
Jay S. Goodman, professor of political science
There is less time than you think until the fall elections, and neither side is conceding an inch. President George W. Bush's approval rating declined steadily during much of 2003. Will his slide continue, or will he succeed in winning the swing vote in pivotal states? Who will earn the nomination of the Democratic Party, and how will that choice affect the election? Professor of Political Science Jay Goodman will present recent polling data and talk about how the 2004 presidential election is shaping up.
Fred Astaire and Musical Film of the 1930s
Elizabeth Ann Sears, professor of music and director of music performance
"Can't act, can't sing, balding. Can dance a little." This often-quoted report of Fred Astaire's initial screen test couldn't have been more wrong! This seminar will examine how this extraordinary artist's "triple threat" abilities as a singer, dancer and actor shaped musical films of the 1930s, including the phenomenally successful Astaire films with Ginger Rogers, and what distinguished Astaire from the other successful dancers of the day.
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