ENGLISH 347

Contemporary Developments in Literature and Culture: Hollywood Films and the American Dream, 1945-1997

Winter, 1999

Professor Landon

Office: Fine Arts 437. Office Hours: Monday Tuesday 12:00-1:00 PM and by appointment.

Phone: 455-2052; E-mail landon@gl.umbc.edu .

Internet WEB Page http://research.umbc.edu/~landon/index.html. English 347 is listed among the online courses.

For over half a century, the term "American Dream" has been used to describe the social, political, and economic aspirations central to American culture. That Dream, often defined as "family values" or "the American Way of Life" has played a major role in recent presidential campaigns and has figured prominently in discussions of contemporary American society. This winter we will explore some of the ways in which Hollywood films have both reflected and shaped these aspirations from the end of World War II through 1990s. Beginning with The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat, we will view selected films which focus on the struggle to achieve the American Dream as well as on films which seem to call that Dream into quesiton. Titles will include Psycho, On the Waterfront, Rebel Without a Cause, The Graduate, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Caine Mutiny, The Manchurian Candidate, Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, and Fargo. Students will have the option to use the Internet to gather information of the assigned films and to the course requirements.