HIST 382 - 1960s and American Film

Credit Hours: 4

Evaluates the history of 1960s America with primary focus on social and cultural reflections of contemporary issues via major motion pictures of the time. Analysis and review of the films are informed by historical investigation of the 1960s as a whole. The course is intended both to complicate and complement popular views of the decade as students consider major themes that shaped American film: racial conflict and Civil Rights; the Cold War; and challenges to conventional ideas and established authority. Students think critically about assigned films and evaluate them - via both written work and class discussion - as primary source evidence of 1960s America.