TITLE:  VISION AND THE MODERN WORLD         Instructor: Linda Sneed
* 1943          2:30-3:45       TR      WH 114
* 1944          4:00-5:15       TR      BH 337

This section of W170 will focus on the ways that vision as a
perceptual sense has shaped the "modern" world.  Some argue that
vision has become the dominant way in which the world is
understood--both perceived and represented--since the
Enlightenment of the late 18th century, especially more recently with
the advent of photography and film technologies that become more and
more sophisticated (and common)  all the time.  We will consider this
argument and others as we engage with a variety of visual and written
texts: explanatory and argumentative essays, experimental
visual-verbal collage texts, fiction, paintings, photographs,
television and movies. Topics we will delve into include: ways in
which visual entertainment shapes our sense of reality, political or
power-related implications of image-making, and the ways in which
visual technologies can be used as a surveillance mechanism. Texts we
work with will include John Berger's WAYS OF SEEING, the 1956
Hitchcock movie REAR WINDOW, Friedrich Durrenmatt's novella THE
ASSIGNMENT, the phenomenon now commonly referred to as "reality tv"
(CANDID CAMERA, THE REAL WORLD, BIGBROTHER, SURVIVOR, etc.), and other
materials available to you through your required texts, including a
course packet you will need to purchase at Mr. Copy.  You will write
several directed papers throughout the course, making use of the
required text WRITING ARGUMENTS as you do so.