Reel Dilemmas

“The play’s the thing wherein to catch the conscience of the king,” Hamlet said. This course constitutes first viewing a film—the screenplay actualized—and then addressing the existential dilemma put before us in the work—the flesh and blood human situation in which the characters find themselves. We break the film down, analyze how it uses the verbal, visual, and visceral art forms in presenting our dilemma. Films this quarter include: The Constant Gardner (2005), The Misfits (1961), A Home At The Edge Of The World (2004), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). The instructor requests that no reviews or articles concerning the films be read beforehand, as it would affect seeing the films with the openness and freshness which art asks of us. We don’t want to lose that wonderful experience.