Course Description

GLS 592: The Hollywood Aesthetic: Pleasure in Mainstream Cinema

Instructor: Todd Berliner

Hollywood movies are arguably the most widely successful pleasure-giving art objects the world has known. People are passionate about Hollywood movies, their engagement active and exhilarated. This course studies the aesthetic pleasure that mainstream cinema offers its audiences. We will study some of Hollywood's most enduring movies, and a few beloved Hollywood oddities, and attempt to figure out what makes them pleasurable. We will read pertinent literature in film studies and in the philosophy and psychology of aesthetics in order to provide a framework for understanding Hollywood's aesthetic appeal. The course includes regular film screenings, hence the four-hour weekly meetings.

Last Update: March 5, 2013