Time Schedule:
Sarah Bryant-Bertail
DRAMA 582
Seattle Campus
Analytic approaches to dramatic materials, concentrating on semiotics, Marxism, feminism, or a related critical theory.
Class description
This course studies Marxism and related contemporary socio-political theories in historical context and in relation to theater and film. Following generally chronological order, we will examine classical Marxism, neo-Marxism, and related theories, with the latter including discourse theory, materialist feminism, and post-colonialist theory. We will study the major definitions of and debates around ideology; the political subject; art as social and economic practice; historical consciousness, context, agency, and change; mass culture and high culture--as they relate to theater and film. Certain historical moments will be orientation points for the writers and artists we will study: the French Revolution, colonialism, the communist revolutions in Russia and Germany, fascism and the World Wars, the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, and the postcolonial era of global capitalism.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
