COD 2008 - PS35
X-MEN and HEROES: Postcolonial discourse in popular entertainment
Students at TTC and Language and Literature teachers.
2
sessions, start: 24-May
The course chosen does not allow any new enrolment
Course detail
Year: 2008
Level: Primary / Secondary
Language: English
Status: Ended
Lugar: ESSARP - Deheza 3139, CABA
Facilitator/s: Ms. Mónica Beatriz Cuello
ESSARP Schools
ARS
ARS
Exams Schools
ARS
ARS
Non affiliate
ARS 90.00
ARS 90.00
Sessions
| Sessions | Dates | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 May 2008 | 09:00 am | 12:00 pm |
| 2 | 31 May 2008 | 09:00 am | 12:00 pm |
Facilitator/s
Mónica Beatriz Cuello
Students at TTC and Language and Literature teachers.
- Exploring Science Fiction as a cinematic genre.
- Discussing the textual features of the film X- Men and the TV series Heroes.
- Discovering postcolonial elements in these texts.
- Discovering intertextual references with other types of texts.
Both the X-Men saga and the TV show Heroes are highly popular forms of entertainment among teenagers. These texts have postcolonial messages that youngsters read and welcome, since they often experience a feeling of otherness.
The X-Men are a team of science fictional comic book superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, X-Men are fictitious mutants who, as a result of a sudden leap in evolution, are born with latent superhuman abilities which generally manifest themselves at puberty. Many ordinary humans harbor an intense fear and/or distrust of mutants (often referred to as Homo superior), who are regarded by a number of scientists as the next step in human evolution and are thus widely viewed as a threat to human society. The X-Men comic book series was one of comicdom's earliest and most influential trendsetters in adopting a multicultural central cast, adding in the early 1970s characters from Germany, Ireland, Canada, the Soviet Union, Kenya and Japan. The stories themselves often touch upon themes relating to the status of minorities, including assimilation, tolerance, and beliefs regarding a "superior race".
Heroes is an American science fiction serial drama television series created by Tim Kring. The series tells the stories of ordinary individuals who discover that they have superhuman abilities. It also explores how they adapt to the changes these abilities bring, and their roles in preventing catastrophes and saving humanity. As the characters discover their extraordinary abilities, which are both a blessing and a curse, they understand they have a mission to fulfill. This mission will eventually bring them together and will build up the main storyline. The series emulates the aesthetic style and storytelling of American comic books, using short, multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing arc.
The coordinator will briefly present the theoretical background, eliciting information from the participants. Then she'll move on to cinematic texts, identifying the characteristics presented before and showing the possibilities these visual texts offer for teaching purposes.
Handouts will be provided.
- Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin (2003) The Empire Writes Back. Second Edition. London: Routledge.
- Dick, . (1998). Anatomy of Film. St.Martin's Press, Inc.
- MacFarlane, R. (1996) Novel to Film: an Introduction to Adaptation Theory. Oxford University Press.
- Monaco, J. (2000) How to Read a film. Oxford University Press.
- Nelmes, J. (ed.) An Introduction to Film Studies. London: Routledge.
- Neale and Murray Smith (eds.) (1998) Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. New York and
London: Routledge.
- Phillips, P. (2000) Understanding Film Texts. Meaning and Experience. British Film Institute.
- Pope, R. (2002) The English Studies Book, Second Edition, London and New York: Routledge.