AMST425

Explores how representations of various geographic spaces in American film impact our understanding of community, identity, and place. In particular, we will think about how these spaces are culturally produced and changeable rather than static. The same space can hold diverse meanings for various groups of people and how such a space is represented in film is often wrapped up with issues of power, the reinforcement of stereotypes, and the creation of self/other dichotomies. By analyzing a variety of narrative, documentary, major studio, and independent films, we will seek to understand how American films' representations of rural, urban, and suburban spaces both reflect, contradict, and often influence our lived experiences of these spaces; in other words, this course will examine how the "reel" intersects with the "real".