The Montage is the Message

Semester and Year	SP 2011
Course Number	WRTNG-UG1075
Section	001
Instructor	Luke Mitchell
Days	Mon
Time	6:20 PM - 9:00 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

A man smiles, a shot is fired, he frowns. No:  A man frowns, a shot is fired, he smiles. The sequence tells all. The order of scenes conveys more meaning even than the scenes themselves. In this class, students will draw from film theory to learn how to better structure their non-fiction narratives. We will explore how, in writing non-fiction, we make choices about what to describe and how to arrange those descriptions; and in making these choices, we begin (whether we intend it or not) to make an argument. In our examination of the theory of montage in non-fiction writing, students will analyze film sequences from Eisenstein, Alfred Hitchcock, and David Simon, and texts by literary journalists Lawrence Weschler, Ian Frazier, Joan Didion, Frederick Kaufman, and Cecilia Balli, among others. The real breakthroughs, though, will occur as students set about assembling and reassembling their own works.

Course Type

Advanced Writing Courses (WRTNG-UG)