Visualizing the Holocaust: Stage and Screen (3 cr)
Sean Sidky
CLLC-L 210 Culture, the Arts, and Society (13899)
MW 1:25-2:40; occasional film showings on W 7-9 pm
GenEd A&H; CASE A&H
How can we represent an event so terrible as the Holocaust? This question has loomed in the background of the last seventy years of popular culture, yet has never seemed to stop people trying. This course is a focused look at performative representations of the Holocaust over the course of the twentieth and into the twenty-first century, focusing on film, television, and the theatrical stage. We will interrogate questions of the possibility and ethics of performance, the limits of visualization, and the odd humor that has been pervasive in these representations. We will examine the different possibilities of each medium, as well as the different uses the performance and visual aspects of the media have served, focusing on questions of memory, ethics, identity, and the limits of the imagination. Students can expect in-class writing assignments, short papers, and a multi-stage final essay.
