Coming to America as Seen From Hollywood
Instructor: Kenneth Verosub, Department of Geology, College of Letters and Science
Description: In keeping with the Community Book Project theme of immigration, this seminar will examine how Hollywood has presented the immigrant experience. We will begin by viewing films like Gangs of New York, Born in East L.A., and The Joy Luck Club, which portray the experiences of immigrants to America through time and across cultures. We will then examine how films like Bend It Like Beckham, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and West Side Story, deal with the challenges and temptations of assimilation and integration in a new society. Our goals will be to gain a better understanding of the depth and breadth of the immigrant experience and to assess how accurately it has been portrayed in films. As a final exercise, students will be asked to develop the screenplay for a film of their own about coming to America in the 21st century. The primary goal for student learning will be to demonstrate that films, which students have probably only considered as a means of entertainment, can be the subject of serious discourse and analysis. A secondary goal will be for students to discover how films both mirror and modify the events they portray. Both of these goals will help awaken in first-year students an understanding of the possibilities inherent in looking critically and analytically at the world around them.
Format: The class will be taught as an informal discussion. At times the instructor will lead the discussion; at other times, the students will lead or will make more formal presentations. Viewing of films will take place, for the most part, outside of class. Class time will be spent discussing short clips that will be shown in class. Students will be expected to view at least one full-length film before each meeting of the class and to prepare for a discussion about it. They will also be expected to illustrate the points they make in class by showing short clips from the film. For this reason, access to a DVD player is useful, but not required. Grading: Half of the grade will be based on the extent and quality of participation in the class discussions. The other half of the grade will be based on the quality of an oral audio-visual group presentation that students will be required to make at the end of the seminar.
About the Instructor: Ken Verosub is a professor in the Geology Department and the former director of the Davis Honors Challenge. He is a second-generation American who has used the Ellis Island website to determine how and when his own grandparents came to America almost a hundred years ago.