As critic Steven Rose writes in the Guardian, “Black films matter,” especially at a time when many have come to realize that “America’s Obama-era post-racial vision has turned out to be an illusion” (Oct. 13, 2016; https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/13/do-the-right-thing-how-black-cinema-rose-again). In this course, we will investigate the very conception of “black film” by interrogating the connection between U.S.-American racial formations and their representation in the medium of film. In order to do so, we will familiarize ourselves with key methodologies of film theory, cultural theory, and critical race theory, and we will bring these methodologies to bare on a set of critically acclaimed films that have spawned much discourse about the continuing legacies of slavery and racial discrimination in the U.S. Films we will discuss include:

Twelve Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)

Straight Outta Compton (F. Gary Gray, 2015)

Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2015)

Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)

Mudbound (Dee Rees, 2016)

Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018)

BlackkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018)