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Topics in Contemporary Art: Fictions and Frictions of Power

ENGL 797.401
also offered as: ARTH 594, CINE 594, COML 594
instructor(s):
Thursdays 3:30-6:30 pm

 A study of various exercises of power, as well as of types of resistance to power in philosophy, literature, and film.

Theory of power: Foucault.  Power through language  (Socratic dialogue).  Erotic power (Racine, Andromaque; Hitchcock, Strangers on a Train; “Pauline Réage,” Story of O).  Social power (Pierre Bourdieu; Mike Leigh, Vera Drake).  Resistance to power:  Withdrawal (Polanski, Revulsion; Haynes, Safe); psychic work (the body “scarred” by the real, and the thinking body (Freud, Bollas, Laplanche.)    
 

fulfills requirements