College is going to be awesome

[theotherguy]

This is a class I am required to take.

Section LL
M. Castagnaro
9:30-10:20
Frankenstein, Technology and Dystopia

In this section of 76-101, we will be dealing the novel (Frankenstein) and the film (Blade Runner 1982). We will be reading these texts for key issues of class, gender, technology, and genre. We will begin by first looking at a key style of narrative known as the gothic, its continuation into more recent contexts (Frankenstein), and its diffusion into more recent science fiction and horror films, such as Blade Runner and Minority Report. Students will engage scholarly debates surrounding these texts through three cumulative assignments (argument summary, argument synthesis, and contribution). Aside from the primary goals of the course, this class will work to augment students? ability to think critically about the media, which pervades our daily lives in a consumer-based society. In short, what we see on TV or in films, hear in music, read in novels, or glance at in advertisements, is never ?only entertainment.?

 

[StardogChampion]

You have to take more than one class in college?

 

[knut]

We had to do Blade Runner for Music Technology last year. It was pretty interesting. Also had to do Goldfinger and Batman.

/semi pointless input

 

[theotherguy]

Yes? My courseload so far looks like this
1. Frankenstein, Technology and Dystopia
2. Intermediate Computer Science
3. Discrete Mathematics
4. Calculus II
5. Freshman acclimation
6. Computing@Carnegie Mellon
7. Unspecified science course (probably Physics or Astronomy)
8. Unspecified humanities course (either English I or a psychology course)

 

[Ennui]

I watched Blade Runner for a class in uni two semesters ago. ENG 057 - Future Perfect. It was awesome.

Course description: “Future Perfect” is a first year seminar that will investigate the forms and cultural functions of science fiction. We will read authors as diverse as William Gibson, Octavia Butler, and Samuel Delany, to name only three influential practitioners of the genre. Key questions raised by science fiction include: What does it mean to be human? How do we imagine our culture and society to be other than it is? What roles do social categories such as race, gender, class, and sexuality play in our descriptions of the future; and to what extent are these ways of categorizing humans important for making this literature “realistic”? How do we re-imagine human evolutionary biology and to what purpose?

We watched Blade Runner, Alien, Aliens, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Donnie Darko, the Day After Tomorrow, Starship Troopers, Gattaca, and some other stuff... and we read about 8-9 really fantastic books too. Favorite class ever.

The class was more or less a discussion about humanity's collective future and eventual extinction, my professor was wildly intelligent and incredibly gay and generally one of the coolest teachers I've ever had. I miss that class

 

[Beerdude26]

The class was more or less a discussion about humanity's collective future and eventual extinction, my professor was wildly intelligent and incredibly gay and generally one of the coolest teachers I've ever had. I miss that class

Intelligent gay teachers are the best. My History teacher was so damn interesting when he talked about it.

/secretly gay

 

[staticprimer]

I watched Blade Runner for a class in uni two semesters ago. ENG 057 - Future Perfect. It was awesome.

Course description: ?Future Perfect? is a first year seminar that will investigate the forms and cultural functions of science fiction. We will read authors as diverse as William Gibson, Octavia Butler, and Samuel Delany, to name only three influential practitioners of the genre. Key questions raised by science fiction include: What does it mean to be human? How do we imagine our culture and society to be other than it is? What roles do social categories such as race, gender, class, and sexuality play in our descriptions of the future; and to what extent are these ways of categorizing humans important for making this literature ?realistic?? How do we re-imagine human evolutionary biology and to what purpose?

We watched Blade Runner, Alien, Aliens, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Donnie Darko, the Day After Tomorrow, Starship Troopers, Gattaca, and some other stuff... and we read about 8-9 really fantastic books too. Favorite class ever.

The class was more or less a discussion about humanity's collective future and eventual extinction, my professor was wildly intelligent and incredibly gay and generally one of the coolest teachers I've ever had. I miss that class

Wow that class sounds really awesome! The most fun class I ever took was "History of Pirates in the Atlantic World" Not only was it a class about pirates, it also counted towards my major.

 

[dfc05]

Honestly, I hated the novel Frankenstein. It started getting tedious and I didn't really like any of the characters. It's on my list of most-disliked novels .

 

[Hazar]

damn pansy art majors... TAKE SOME REAL CLASSES DAMMIT

 

[Sulkdodds]

In short, what we see on TV or in films, hear in music, read in novels, or glance at in advertisements, is never ?only entertainment.?

Clever.

I done did an essay/tutorial on dystopia - 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm - but that was a week's worth of work. D:

 

[Ennui]

I wrote an essay comparing symbolism and thematic elements in Blade Runner and Brave New World but it could have been better.

 

[Druckles]

We had to do Blade Runner for Music Technology last year. It was pretty interesting. Also had to do Goldfinger and Batman.

/semi pointless input

Especially considering it's completely the wrong type of college

I'm half looking forward to university next year.

 

[knut]

Especially considering it's completely the wrong type of college

I'm half looking forward to university next year.

Well, not exactly. More importantly we studied the film itself, and to me, Blade Runner's music is just as powerful as it's content.

I do wish we could of studied that in a class, though. We did Natural Born Killers in General Studies, and then 1984, both which made for very interesting discussions during class. Man, I loved General Studies.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I wrote an essay comparing symbolism and thematic elements in Blade Runner and Brave New World but it could have been better.

Damn right Brave New World could have been better. I mean isn't it ridiculous? The whole book was going quite well until

Spoiler

they brought Caliban the Shakespearian Red Indian back from the wilderness, then a hot woman tried to rape him and he locked her in his bathroom. Then he went and had a big fight with a bunch of midgets, but policemen played music at them and sprayed them with goo and they all broke down in tears.

I've got my last exam of the year tomorrow, and I'll probably end up writing on dystopia to some extent. It's useful because it's so political and at the same time frequently so crude or apolitical.

 

[AiM]

damn pansy art majors... TAKE SOME REAL CLASSES DAMMIT

I know what you're feeling, I've got all these ridiculous Business / Marketing theme classes and none of them involves watching a movie. *sigh*

/jealousy

 

[theotherguy]

I know what you're feeling, I've got all these ridiculous Business / Marketing theme classes and none of them involves watching a movie. *sigh*

/jealousy

But I'm a compsci major, not an art major. If you notice, most of my classes involve high-level math and computer programming, this class was just a lucky break.