ITAL 387 - Italian American Cinema

(Same as FS 444M.) This course explores the connection between popular Hollywood film genres and Italian-American images such as the Latin lover, the prizefighter, and the gangster. Course readings provide a background for the critical discourse on Italian American immigration experience and ethnic identity, while the discussion takes into account different aspects of Italian American cultural production to further contextualize the films. The first part of the course is devoted to an exploration of the construction of negative and positive stereotypes of ethnicity in Hollywood films from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1970s, and to the analysis of influential films by Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. The second part of the course focuses on the work of recent art film directors who have attempted to dislodge stereotypes and explore new perspectives, and examines recent developments of the representation of Italian-Americans in popular media culture in the US and Italy. Taught in English with optional coursework in Italian. (Offered as needed.) 3 credits