Skip to main content

Humanities in the 20th and 21st Centuries HUM 2250

 

By

Module Author(s)

  • Mikki Tatum (Florida State College at Jacksonville)

Course Description

HUM 2250 approaches the concept of global culture (emphasis on Europe and America) as a system of meanings allowing groups and individuals to give significance to the world and mediate their relationships with each other and their known universe. Humanities courses are distinguished from traditional Liberal Arts disciplines through an emphasis on interdisciplinary and global comparative cultural contexts. Through these approaches to global cultural texts and artifacts, the humanities attempt to investigate, contest, deconstruct, analyze, and synthesize the phenomena of human agency and subjectivity both within and between global cultures. By pursuing these forms of inquiry, we may better understand our world and our place within it.

NOTE: This class is divided into 6 modules that can be adjusted to any class length.

Number of Students Enrolled: 25

Student Global Learning Outcomes

1. Understand and appreciate outstanding global cultural expression of European art and music during the Modern era.
2. Interpret, evaluate, compare, and contrast Modern art and music expressions and their impact on European philosophical arguments, religious beliefs, and/or social theories.
3. Identify causal influences in the chronological development of ideas about European Modern art and music.

Module Description and Activities

Description of Module 1: Welcome to 20th Century Modernism (1900-1960)

Global Learning Activity 1: Discussion Forum: Welcome to Our Coffeehouse!

Objectives: This first discussion forum takes place the first week of class. It asks everyone to grab a cup of virtual coffee, pull up a virtual beanbag chair, and build our learning community by browsing through Module 1 to get a better idea of what this class offers. They are instructed to peruse class materials and find a work of art that appeals to them, which includes a brief description of what they think it is and how it might be part of global Modern culture. They also learn that the class is divided into three main genres: art (includes all art and music), literature, and film. Students focus mainly on European art.

Procedures: This discussion forum takes place in Module 1, which introduces students to European art and music during the Modern era. Students read an essay by the late Dr. Annette Allen, Former Director of the PhD in Humanities Program at University of Louisville (in Kentucky) to help establish the context for why students need to study global cultures to compare to their own. Here is an excerpt:

“We study the humanities because they are concerned with timeless questions — questions that people asked in the past, that they ask now, and that they may ask in the future. We are led to reflect on enduring problems–the inevitability of death, the mystery of God, the need for love, the temptation of power, the injustice of fate, the qualities of greatness, the tension between loyalty to oneself and to the community. . . We study the humanities to enhance our membership in a community. How do shared educational, religious, or social experiences provide a common frame of reference, the cultivation of common goals, or the knowledge that happiness may be a function of our relationship with others?” (Dr. Annette Allen par 1 and 5).

This first module includes an introduction to the Modern era. Discussions include comparisons between similar themes across different countries by such artists as Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, M. C. Escher, and Simone de Beauvoir. For example, students learn that Simone de Beauvoir was a pioneer of the Modern era as a French woman in intellectual philosophical circles normally populated by men. She is the personification of Modern existential philosophy regarding gender roles for women in a stiffly misogynistic society that encouraged females to stay away from artful endeavors, which was considered a male dominated arena.

Includes a focus on Modern art and philosophy examples from Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, M. C. Escher, and Simone de Beauvoir. Modern Music: Tin Pan Alley, Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman.

Resources and References:

Allen, Annette. “Why Study the Humanities?” Humanistic Studies II, March 2004. The University of Louisville. Class handout.

The Modern Era

Overview 1:

Overview 2:

  • Osbourne. “Unit Preview 6: The Modern Era.” YouTube, 21 May 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAcEnicVYq0
  • “Modernism.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Scot Peacock, vol. 70, Gale, 1997.
  • The Definitions and Characteristics of Modernity.  Retrieved June 13 2016. <http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/modernit.htm>.

Modern Art:

Overview (read through each genre) Genres: Pop Art, Abstract Art, Surrealism, Bauhaus, Impressionism, Expressionism, Romanticism, High Renaissance, Symbolism, Straight Photography, Socialist Realism, Dadaism, and Cubism

Modern Philosophy

Modern Music

Overview 1:

Overview 2:

Quiz 1

Objectives: This quiz gives students a solid foundation for knowing exactly what the Humanities entail. It also gives students a sense of why we study the Humanities. Then, it helps establish how to utilize different cultural lenses to view European Modern art. This helps set up a historical timeline that students can follow to have even more cultural context. Students learn that movies, television, magazines, social media, and other forms of human expression can be read as a text.

 Procedures: This quiz takes place in Module 1. It enhances the students’ awareness of modernity. They learn the definitions of all the ingredients that went into constructing the Modern era, such as the Industrial Revolution, gender role issues, and an established hegemony, which was Europe-wide. The gritty realism that came from the Industrial Revolution affected the entire world, and students compare how it affected America, Britain, and other European countries to their own culture. For example, students get an awareness of gender role issues in the fact that British women received the right to vote in 1918, but American women didn’t receive it until 1920 and after much active suffrage.

 Resources and References:

Module 2: Modern Literature

Activity 1: Discussion forum: Modern Literature

Objectives: Students read eight short stories to help establish how the Modern era is captured in literature during that time period. The objective is for students to use this exercise to prove they are understanding the material and following along on our history timeline. This will later help demonstrate how the Modern era transitioned into the Postmodern era.

Procedures: This discussion forum takes place in Module 2. Students learn that Modern era literature is extremely distinct because it was marked by sudden and unexpected breaks with traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. Experimentation and individualism became virtues, where in the past they were often heartily discouraged. Modern literature comments on the fact that there is something evil lurking around in some capacity behind a nice, happy facade.

Includes a focus on Modern Literature examples from Franz Kafka (“In the Penal Colony”), William Faulkner (“A Rose for Emily”), Ernest Hemingway (“Hills Like White Elephants”). Edith Nesbit (“Man-size in Marble”), W. W. Jacobs (“The Monkey’s Paw”), Kate Chopin (“The Story of an Hour”), Shirley Jackson (“The Lottery”), and Virginia Woolf (“Shakespeare’s Sister”).

Resources and References:

The links to PDFs of each short story are listed in this module for easy student access.

Modern Literature Overview:

Quiz 2

Objectives: This quiz gives students a solid foundation for knowing that the Modern era occurred due to a series of cultural shocks, such as the Industrial Revolution and an overall break with tradition. Students learn that the Modern era was a stark and industrialized world that resounded in all areas of American and European culture.

Procedures: This quiz takes place in Module 2 and enhances the students’ awareness of modernity in literature. The cultural shocks that helped create the Modern era were due to the Europe-wide Industrial Revolution and Great Depression, which includes two world wars. Students compare their own culture to that of Modern writers and what they were trying to accomplish.

 Resources and References:

Module 3: Modern Film and the Universal Monsters

Activity 1: Discussion forum: Modern Film and the Universal Monsters

Objectives: This discussion forum enables students to see the beginnings of film and its influence on global culture. For example, when students watch one of the Modern films for this module, Ferdinand Leger’s Ballet Mecanique, they get a very real sense of the chaos that swirled throughout all culture at that tumultuous time. Students either love it or hate it, but all the noisy, machine-ridden, horror facial close-ups show students what it was like to live during that time period of the machine over the human. Students are encouraged to ponder if that is still a relevant issue in today’s Postmodern, tech-driven world.

Procedures: This discussion forum takes place in Module 3. This forum includes a focus on certain filmmakers and their films, such as D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, Georges Melies’ A Trip to the Moon, Tod Browning’s Freaks, Fernand Leger’s Ballet Mecanique, and Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will. This also includes excerpts from Tod Browning’s Dracula, James Whale’s Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man, Karl Freund’s The Mummy, and George Waggner’s The Wolfman.

Students learn how film took its place quickly and made permanent global cultural roots, particularly in Europe and America. It was a much-needed escape from the chaos of new industrialization and world war. People who could afford it flocked to new theaters, and once they were able to add a moving picture theater experience to their lives, life became brighter amidst a dark and emotional terrain. Have you ever looked forward to some down-time to watch a movie of your choice? Those comfort feelings were much needed during the Modern era to offset its shock, and film became some of the best medicine!

Many new artists jumped onto this artful bandwagon, bringing global talent to all theaters. Some were the directors of films that took storylines from old classic literature such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), and Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera (1909). One of the reasons why they were such popular subject matter for film is due to their popularity as novels that had risen to popularity in the 18th century. Students ponder how much this cultural dynamic is still in play today.

Students learn that one of the most popular early film companies was Universal Studios. Once the studio discovered global audiences loved to be scared (as we still are today), they capitalized on it by producing what became known as the Universal Monsters. But there were filmmakers all over the world who used this new technology to forge permanent paths in every culture. For example, French filmmaker Georges Melies’ A Trip to the Moon was based on H. G. Wells and Jules Verne’s science fiction and became extremely popular. Tod Browning’s Freaks is quite shocking, and Browning also directed Dracula (1931.) Included in this module is a full-length German documentary entitled Triumph of the Will. After WWI, Adolph Hitler hired Leni Riefenstahl to make a film about his rise to power with the Third Reich. Her film is rich with Gothic elements and beautifully filmed, but the subject matter is intense and political, and some scholars argue it helped foster the Holocaust. Students get a solid idea of how film actually came about, as well as the causal influences in the chronological development of ideas about Modern film.

 Resources and References:

Quiz 3

Objectives: This quiz reaffirms what students have learned thus far about the humanities: that nothing ever happens in isolation, and that everything is connected in some way. Students learn to connect global cultures so they can compare them to their own. Through these connections students can interpret, evaluate, compare, and contrast Modern film expressions and their impact on global philosophical arguments, religious beliefs, and/or social theories.

Procedures: This quiz takes place in Module 3 and familiarizes students with the impact Universal Studios had on global culture. They learn about the birth of film to set the context for the quizzes that address how this compares to Postmodern film, the focus of Module 6. These procedures allow students to clearly see how European Modern film impacted global film using Modern European hegemony such as gender role issues, particularly for women; this wraps back around to the concepts regarding how British women received the right to vote in 1918, but American women didn’t receive it until two years late in 1920.

Resources and References:

Modern Film

Overview:

Films and Trailers

The Universal Monsters

Overview:

Trailers:

Credits:
Dracula directed by Tod Browning (1931)
Frankenstein directed by James Whale (1931)
Bride of Frankenstein directed by James Whale (1935)
The Invisible Man directed by James Whale (1933)
The Mummy directed by Karl Freund (1932)
The Wolfman directed by George Waggner (1941)

Module 4: Welcome to 21st Century Postmodernism (1961-present)

Activity 1: Discussion forum: 21st Century and Postmodernism

Objectives: This discussion forum enables students to see how the Modern transitioned into the Postmodern era, particularly in European and American culture. For example, students learn how gender equality translates in all forms of human art, such as in television situation comedies and the music industry. In particular, there is a focus on Madonna and Lady Gaga as culturally empowered females, which allows students to see the juxtaposition of women in the Modern entertainment industry versus women in the Postmodern entertainment industry.

 Procedures: This discussion takes place in Module 4. This module includes globally-themed discussions such as gender role issues, racism, and hegemony, particularly in Europe and America. Students learn about Postmodern art helped pull everyone out of the Modern era. This discussion forum includes a focus on how the Modern era transitioned into the Postmodern era globally. Topics include The Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture Movement and Social Activism, the History of Pop Art, The Feminist Movement in Art, and the Women’s Liberation Movement. Includes discussions on mood-capturing artists H. R. Giger and Jackson Pollock, as well as global theme comparisons in the Postmodern television situation comedy, such as “I Love Lucy,” “Leave it to Beaver,” “Bewitched,” and “Roseanne,” and culture-defining films such as The Wild One (1953) and Blackboard Jungle (1955). This discussion also includes female empowerment Prime Time television programs such as Wonder Woman (1974) and The Bionic Woman (1978). Also included are lectures on Postmodern music and the introduction of Music Television (MTV) in 1981 that changed music globally by airing music videos from artists all over the world. Students watch the first video that aired on MTV in 1981: Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Also included is Postmodern Music, which included an examination of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, the Woodstock Festival, the two British Invasions, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, and Lady Gaga (who tie into gender role themes in other modules).

 Resources and References:

Quiz 4

Objectives: This quiz reaffirms what students have learned thus far about the humanities: that nothing ever happens in isolation, and that everything is connected in some way. Students learn to connect global cultures so they can compare them to their own. Through these connections students can interpret, evaluate, compare, and contrast Postmodern art expressions and their impact on global philosophical arguments, religious beliefs, and/or social theories.

Procedures: This quiz takes place in Module 4 and familiarizes students with the impact Postmodern art had on global culture. They use the context for Module 3’s second activity (quiz) to help establish the context for Postmodern art, particularly the two British Invasions (1960s and late 1970s/early 1980s).

Resources and References:

Postmodernism (1961-present)

Overviews:

The Counterculture:

Social Activism and the Counterculture:

Communal Living:

Postmodern Art

Overview:

Pop Art:

The Feminist Movement in Art

H.R. Giger Artwork Viewing:

  • Magic Eye. “The Art of H. R. Giger. YouTube, 19 September 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-lNnSjngh0

Jackson Pollock:

Postmodern Music

A Brief History of Rock and Roll:

  • Ushistory.org. “U.S. History Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium: American Rocks and Rolls.” Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia, 2021.  http://www.ushistory.org/us/53d.asp

Elvis Presley:

The 1969 Woodstock Festival:

 The Two British Invasions:

The Beatles:

The Rolling Stones:

Madonna:

  • MC98. “Madonna on ‘The Eighties.’” YouTube, 28 June 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gRGlk_dy-8

Lady Gaga:

Module 5: Postmodern Literature

Activity 1: Discussion Forum: Postmodern Literature

Objectives: This discussion forum enables students to learn that In Postmodern literature, the role of gender becomes even more obscure, even permeable. Students read short stories and excerpts from Postmodern authors such as Richard Matheson’s “Born of Man and Woman,” Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery television shows, Stephen King’s “Survivor Type,” Angela Carter’s Postmodern take on traditional fairy tales with The Bloody Chamber, Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina and Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, and Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Postmodern literature both creates and destabilizes meaning and eliminates the “happily ever after” scenario. Stephen King’s “Survivor Type” is a great example of Postmodern literature due to its challenge of social mores and the view toward the individual within (or outside of) society. Authors such as Angela Carter, Dorothy Allison, Richard Matheson, Rod Serling, and Roald Dahl force us to question ourselves inside our current culture. The children in Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can be seen as representing today’s youth and why there is a tendency to label them “millennials” or the “entitlement generation.”

Procedures: This discussion forum takes place in Module 5. It focuses on how William Faulkner’s Module 2’s short story “A Rose for Emily” and similar Modern gender role themes are handled differently in their global Postmodern counterparts. Also included are art samples from Richard Matheson, Rod Serling, Roald Dahl, Angela Carter, Dorothy Allison, as well as two full short stories: Richard Matheson’s “Born of Man and Woman” and Stephen King’s “Survivor Type.”

In this discussion forum, students discuss how the 1960’s counterculture affected every human art across the world, connecting to what they learned in the previous module. This explosion, which included many social and political movements, was what pulled the world out of the Modern era and into the Postmodern era. Narrators in literature became untrustworthy, and we begin to see empowerment of the female. Students learn to compare Modern gender role sensibilities with Postmodern cultures, such as in Asia, where staunch attitudes toward female gender roles changed very little in the Postmodern era, as evidenced in the Japanese Ju-On novels (based on the film franchise).

Resources and References:

  • Matos, Angel Daniel. The Ever and Ever That Fiction Allows. “What is Postmodern Literature?” Feb 3 2014. <https://angelmatos.net/2014/02/03/what-is-postmodern-literature/>.
  • Meadows, Dr. Becky Lee. Personal Interview. June 2016.
  • Nicol, Bran. “Introduction: Postmodernism and Postmodernity.” The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodern Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp 1-16.

Quiz 5

Objectives: This quiz explores some Postmodern literature themes, giving the students even more context to better understand how the Modern transitioned into the Postmodern. For example, a task for this week is to watch a clip from the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that references one of the lead little girls in the novel, Violet Beauregarde, who chews on a piece of gum and is punished by being turned into a blueberry. Chewing gum was considered too vulgar for Modern little girls, so students learn how Dahl uses that as a rhetorical device for Postmodern female gender roles, especially the fact that he makes Violet not just a gum chewer, but a gum-chewing champion!

Procedures: This quiz takes place in Module 5 and tests students’ knowledge of the major differences between Postmodern traits and their Modern counterparts, with particular focus on European culture’s influence on global art forms.

Resources and References:

Richard Matheson:

Rod Serling:

 The Twilight Zone (original television series opening theme):

 Roald Dahl:

 Scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

 Angela Carter:

 Dorothy Allison:

Module 6: Postmodern Film

Activity 1: Discussion forum: Postmodern Film

Objectives: Students learn that the Postmodern era brought with it many horrors even beyond those of the Modern era, and the pull from the Modern era, much like the pull from the Romantic era into the Modern era (rinse and repeat for all other eras), was riddled with fear and confusion. The Postmodern era is rife with trauma, and Postmodern horror films help exorcise the resulting sensibilities. Chances are if something has traumatized culture in real life, it is explored in a horror film! For instance, we see malls for the first time in the 1970s as consumerism continued to rise. Sam Walton first incorporated Walmart in 1969 as the American economy boomed from technology. People were spending money and becoming mindless shopaholics, and this is also evidenced in Duane Hanson’s sculpture Supermarket Shopper from 1970.

While killers have existed since the beginning of humanity, the Postmodern era redefined the sociopathy of murder, and those dynamics are clearly represented in all the Humanities. In fact, those roots are now so deep that the same characters and plotlines can be found in art all over the world today. For example, the character of Buffalo Bill from the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs is based on serial killer Ed Gein, as is Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Postmodern film also utilizes the concept of the parody or spoof to further reflect social constructs to challenge the traditions established during the Modern era, such as gender roles and religious and political issues. For example, the Modern era’s television landscape gave us the perfect family with Leave it to Beaver (1957-1963), but the Postmodern challenged all those mores with shows like “All in the Family,” a situation comedy adapted from Postmodern British television.

Procedures: This discussion forum takes place in Module 6. In this module, students learn that of all the Humanities, film is arguably one of the best to better understand, interpret, evaluate, compare, and contrast global cultural expressions and philosophical arguments, religious beliefs, and social theories during the Postmodern era. Students look at art from Duane Hanson, George Romero, Robert Bloch, and Alfred Hitchcock. This discussion forum gives students a very solid idea of the global causal influences in the chronological development of Postmodern film. Filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Takashi Shimizu, Mary Lambert, Kathryn Bigelow, and Stanley Kubric are also examined by discussing how similar social constructs are handled in the art from Europe and other countries.

This forum also explores the stark realism of Postmodern films compared to Modern films, and how the traumatic pull away from the Modern into the Postmodern is reflected in films globally. Discussions include how real life spills into film, specifically with serial killers such as Ed Gein. Students watch excerpts from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Norman Bates, its protagonist, is based on Gein from Psycho, the 1959 Robert Bloch novel. Bates is the perfect personification of the stark, conflicted nature of the world as it transitioned from the Modern era and into the Postmodern era.

This module also examines Postmodern American situation comedies that were adapted from British television such as “All in the Family,” which is based on the British sit-com “Till Death Us Do Part,” “Three’s Company” that is based on the British sit-com “Man About the House,” and “Sanford and Son” adapted from the British “Steptoe and Son.” Also discussed are films by George Romero, David Lynch, Takashi Shimizu, Mary Lambert, Kathryn Bigelow, and Stanley Kubric.

There is also an examination of these cultural constructs in the Japanese Ringu film series and how they change and adapt in its American counterpart The Ring film series. Students examine female gender roles in Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-On (The Grudge) film series and how it compares to European and American cultural view of women. In much of Asian horror, females are often still traditionally subordinate to males, but in death, the female becomes an unstoppable killing monster. Students seem to enjoy juxtaposing this with traditional female gender roles in the rest of the world, particularly their own sensibilities. Students ponder the well scene in the Japanese film Ringu to its American counterpart remake The Ring to find cultural clues, as well as other films and film clips that help define this era.

Resources and References:

  • Biography.com. “Alfred Hitchcock.” A&E Television Networks. https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/alfred-hitchcock#early-life. Accessed 30 October 2021.
  • Williams, Linda. “Discipline and Fun: Psycho and Postmodern Cinema.” In Reinventing Film Studies. Edited by Christine Gledhill and Linda Williams, 351–376. London: Arnold, 2000.
  • Goodreads. “Robert Bloch.” https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12540.Robert_Bloch Accessed 28 November 2021.
  • Biography.com. “Ed Gein.” A&E Television Networks. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/ed-gein Accessed 28 November 2021.
  • Movieclips. “The Truth About Mother – Psycho Movie Clip (1960).” YouTube, 27 May 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWHYmNrAFlI
  • Psycho. “Bates Motel Sign: Vacancy.” Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Paramount Pictures. 1960.
  • Movieclips Classic Trailers. “The Silence of the Lambs Official Trailer #1.” YouTube, 5 October 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Mm8Sbe__o
  • Movieclips Classic Trailers. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Official Remastered Trailer.” YouTube, 17 June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgJQvyngAeM
  • TeeVees Greatest. “All in the Family 1971-1979 Opening and Closing Theme.” YouTube, 4 April 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fye4uY3pCvo
  • Leave it to Beaver. “Family Portrait.” Photograph.
  • All in the Family. “Family Portrait.” Photograph.
  • Hanson, Duane. Supermarket Shopper. Sculpture, 1970. https://arthur.io/art/duane-hanson/supermarket-shopper Accessed 28 November 2021.
  • Dawn of the Dead. Directed by George Romero, Laurel Group. 1979. Poster Art.
  • An American Nightmare. Directed by Adam Simon, Independent Film Channel, 2000.  
  • Ringu. “Sadako Rises from the Well.” Directed by Hideo Nakata, Ringu/Rasen Production Committee. 1998.
  • The Ring. “Samara Rises from the Well.” Directed by Gore Verbinski, DreamWorks Pictures. 2002.

Quiz 6

Objectives: This quiz allows students to focus on the comparison between British television and how it was adapted to American television. Students also continue to compare how art from European and other countries reflected and affected each other, which bolsters the foundation that nothing ever happens in isolation. Students make cultural connections while expressing themselves (in preparation for the Museum Project that is due at the end of this module).

Procedures: This quiz takes place in Module 6. Students compare what they learned about the Modern era to its Postmodern counterparts, as well as how sensibilities toward all human art advanced beyond modernity. Students use what they’ve learned to examine key Postmodern directors who play with these themes in their films, such as David Lynch and his 1986 film Blue Velvet where there is a stark binary opposition between Modern, happy suburbia and the Postmodern focus on the evil contained within it. Also included is an examination of Japanese writer/director Takashi Shimizu and his Ju-on/The Grudge film franchise, which helped foster the J-Horror craze with Japan’s Postmodern binary opposition between tradition and technology.

Students also examine some female film directors who have explored these dynamics, such as Mary Lambert and her 1989 film Pet Sematary, Kathryn Bigelow’s Postmodern take on old vampire legends with her 1987 film Near Dark, and Patricia Rozema’s examination of Postmodern female gender roles in her 1987 film I’ve Heard the Mermaid Singing.  This also includes Stanley Kubrick and his 1968 science fiction/space opera film 2001: A Space Odyssey and its influence on subsequent science fiction film art.

Resources and References:

Postmodern Film

Overviews:

  • Filmtheory.org. “Postmodernism in Films.” 29 August 2014, https://www.filmtheory.org/postmodernism-in-films/
  • Benyahia, Sarah Casey, and Claire Mortimer. Doing Film Studies. New York: Routledge, 2013. Chapter 11: Postmodernism and Cultural Studies (pp. 125-135).
  • The Japan Times. “J-Horror.” https://www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/j-horror/ Accessed 28 November 2021.
  • Inuhiko, Yomota. What Is Japanese Cinema?: A History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. Chapter 11. Within a Production Bubble: 2001-2011: The Rise of J-Horror (pp. 194-196).

 Comparison of Japanese Ringu and American The Ring:

 The Catharsis of Horror Movies:

David Lynch:

Siskel and Ebert Blue Velvet Film Review:

Takashi Shimizu:

James Wan:

Mary Lambert:

Kathryn Bigelow:

Patricia Rozema:

Stanley Kubrick:

2001: A Space Odyssey trailer:

Activity 3: Museum Project

Objectives: This project capstones everything the students have learned about unpacking human art based on the culture that produced it. Students choose a Modern or Postmodern work of art and examine it either in person or online using class dissection strategies to unpack its global cultural meaning.

Procedures: This project takes place in Module 6. Students use a worksheet template to dissect their chosen artwork, which focuses on date of creation, nationality of the artist, medium, compositional elements, type and purpose, mood, narrative, time period, and global influences.

Resources and References:

Resources and References Used in the Creation of the Module

See Activities.

World View, a public service program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, equips K-12 and community college educators with global knowledge, best practices and resources to prepare students to engage in our interconnected and diverse world.

Join Our Listserv