FILM 384U | Topics in American Cinema and Culture: American Jewish Experience Through Film
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Michael Weingrad
DAY(S)/TIME(S): Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 1:35 p.m.
ROOM: LH331 (LINCOLN HALL) | CRN: 11259
The Jewish experience in the United States has been reflected, celebrated, and challenged in American cinema since the beginning of the sound era—which began with the release of The Jazz Singer, a blockbuster film about a cantor’s son torn between American success and Jewish tradition. In this course we will examine and critique cinematic representations of the American Jewish story, looking at immigration, Americanization, suburbia, antisemitism, politics, race, faith, and nostalgia. Films include Hester Street, Avalon, The Way We Were, State and Main, Fiddler on the Roof, Bye Bye Braverman, the documentaries Town Bloody Hall and Arguing the World, and Yiddish classics Uncle Moses and Tevye the Dairyman.
University Studies clusters: American Identities and Examining Popular Culture
This course fulfills the BA Fine and Performing Arts requirement
FILM course fees: Students and auditors taking any film course will be charged a $45.00 fee. This is a fee that the Film department applies to all of their courses.