Jul 15, 2025  
2025-2026 Catalog 
    
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2025-2026 Catalog
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HUMT284 - Love, Fear, Thrills, and the Future: Genre Fiction and Popular Culture

Credits: 3

In this course, we will examine four of the most popular genres of literary and cultural production: romance, horror, science fiction, and mystery/thriller. Toward the end of developing practices for lifelong learning, this course is centered around understanding the types of books and media that most people consume. Through the close reading, viewing, and analysis of a combination of novels, films, and their reciprocal adaptations, students will hone their ability to critically examine popular culture: the world of best-sellers and popular films, through the theoretical lens of cultural studies. In the process, we will explore what drives readers and viewers to these popular forms, and in turn, what these forms say about our present moment and culture. Topics for discussion may include: our collective expectations for particular genres, the relationship between literary form and visual media formats, the transformative process of adaptation, and the range of ways creators can experiment with genre conventions. This is an elective course. 

Prerequisite/Corequisite: LITR 101 
3


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