TopPART ONE. Week One: Introduction & Approach
Questions: Why are war representations important? What can they tell us about attitudes to war and to a particular war? How do we read them?
PART TWO. Week Two: Perspectives
Questions: What are the positions of speaker/viewer and of reader/audience? What difference does the perspective make?
Week Three: People
Questions: What "types" do we find in war representations? How do versions of types differ? What impact does the nature of types have on the representation?
Week Four: Plots
Questions: Characters in representations are generaly placed in relation to one another. Relations tend to imply causes and effects. Ultimate consequences tend to imply meaning. What are these relations and how do they develop? What do they suggest about causes and meaning?
Week Five: Politics
Questions: What is a text saying about the war at hand. What is it saying about war in general?
PART THREE. Case Study: The Vietnam War
The second half of the semester focuses on the Vietnam War as a case study. We will focus more closely on particular representations than in the first half, asking of them the same questions but with more concentration.
Week Six: Introductory
Week Seven: Full Metal Jacket
Week Eight: The Sorrow of War
Week Nine: Exhibition
Week Ten: The Things They Carried
Week Eleven: Review
PART FOUR. Week Twelve: Consultations
Week Thirteen: Stepping Back