MEDS 287 - Crisis and Catastrophe in the Media

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as FILM 287) Though unpleasant by definition, few would deny the impact and importance of events like 9/11 and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. How and why do these events grab our attention and what impacts do they have on culture and society? In cases like these, few people are present as eyewitness, meaning that most of our experience comes through media representations in news, documentary, historical reimagining, and outright fiction. This course examines how mass media has covered and subsequently engaged with moments of crisis and catastrophe in 20th and 21st century America. Students will learn to think critically about how and why certain events become “collective traumas” while others may not, paying attention to the economic, ideological, and historical factors that go into coverage. The course will also examine how these events reverberate through culture in journalism, fictionalized accounts, historical fiction, and even more fantastic genres like horror film. In addition to 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination, this course will investigate the War of the Worlds radio broadcast, Pearl Harbor, other assassinations of the 1960s, the 1992 Los Angeles riots/uprising, and Hurricane Katrina, among other crises and catastrophes. Screenings may include news coverage, JFK (Stone, 1991), Malcolm X (Lee, 1992), The Most Dangerous Man in America (Ehrlich and Goldsmith, 2009), All the President’s Men (Pakula, 1976), United 93 (Greengrass, 2006), Cloverfield (Reeves, 2006), When the Levees Broke (Lee, 2006) and episodes from television shows like The Boondocks, Doogie Howser, MD, In Living Color, Def Comedy Jam, The West Wing, and others.

Prerequisites: FILM 175and FILM 210.

Two 75-minute periods, plus outside screenings.