Topic:  Magic, Sorcery, and the Supernatural in Popular Culture
TR 11:15-12:30
*Meets A&H and Cultural Studies requirements*

This course will introduce students to the critical examination of
popular representations of magic, sorcery, and the supernatural. We
will consider such diverse media as films, novels, theater,
advertisements and television. Hexes, witchcraft, magic carpets,
teen witches, and paganism will be among the objects of our study,
and we will scrutinize such issues as the relationship between magic
and science, the focus on gender and sexuality during the witch
trials, the ethics of spell casting, and both positive and negative
depictions of sorcery in children’s literature. Among other texts,
we will read selections from The Arabian Nights, the Malleus
Maleficarum, as well as The Crucible, Beloved, Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone, and Like Water for Chocolate.