PENN SUMMER - University of Pennsylvania

CheM 245 920 TWr 10:00am–1:30pm Kozlowski
Experimental Organic Chemistry I
Prerequisite(s): CHEM 241 / Co-requisite(s): CHEM 242
A basic laboratory course in which both the theoretical and practical
aspects of a variety of organic reactions and multistep syntheses
are emphasized. Modern chromatographic, instrumental, and spectroscopic
techniques are applied to experimental organic chemistry.
Course should be taken concurrently with CHEM 242 or in the semester
immediately following. For safety reasons students will not be
permitted to wear contact lenses in the laboratory. PLEASE NOTE
THE FOLLOWING: For the Summer and LPS offering of CHEM
245, it is a 2-semester course. Part 1 is taken in the first term for 0.0
CU and then Part 2 is taken in the second term immediately following
the first for 1.0 CU.
CineMa STUDieS
CIne 202 920 TBa Baumli
Understanding Cinematic Adaptations:
21st-Century Literacy
Avid fans of a particular novel often eagerly await a film version. These
same enthusiasts equally often come away disappointed by the translation
of their favorite book into an altogether different work of art.
Even though 85% of blockbuster movies are adaptation of novels and
short stories, the viewing audience seldom can judge a film version of
a novel by any other criterion than faithfulness to the original. More
and more, true literacy involves the capability to evaluate a work
across several media. Moving away from this sort of “fidelity studies,”
this interdisciplinary course will examine adaptations as works
of art in their own right. Using recent scholarship from theorists of
adaptation including Deborah Cartmell, Tim Corrigan, Millicent
Marcus, James Naremore, and Imelda Whelan, students will be introduced
to the relatively new field of film adaptation studies. Further,
through close examination of film and text, students will gain new
analytic tools to evaluate both the literature they read and the movies
they watch. We will look at the Coen Brothers’ transformation of
Homer’s Odyssey into O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Danny Boyle’s incorporation
of Hindu and Greek myth into Slumdog Millionaire, Francis
Ford Coppola’s rendering of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness into
Apocalypse Now Redux, and Baz Luhrman’s Bollywood version of the
Orpheus myth into Moulin Rouge. We will also consider adaptations
across new media, such the film renditions of graphic novels like Alan
Moore’s V for Vendetta, Dan Clowe’s Ghost World, or Marjane Satrapi’s
Persepolis; and music videos, like The Smashing Pumpkins’ version of
Federico Fellini’s adaptation of Apuleius’s The Satyricon, or OutKast’s
parody of A Hard Day’s Night. The course will require two 5 page papers
and a final examination. Outside film viewing required.
CIne 202 921 TBa Fiumara
Edgar Allan Poe and the Cinema
Last year marked the bicentennial of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe
and his cultural popularity and influence show no signs of abatement.
IMDb lists over 200 films based on Poe’s oeuvre and what other literary
figure can boast a professional sports team named in their honor
(Baltimore Ravens)? This course will consider a number of canonical
Poe stories and poems and the long history of cinematic adaptations
of these classic works. We will look at popular horror films such
as Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) and Roger Corman’s Pit and the
Pendulum (1961), but will also pay attention to Poe’s important influence
on the avant-garde (German Expressionism, French Surrealism)
and the stop-motion animation of Jan Svankmajer and Tim Burton.
We will also consider Poe’s continued presence in popular culture by
looking at television parodies (The Simpsons), forensic crime dramas
(CSI), comic books (Batman Nevermore), and possibly a class trip to the
Poe House in Philadelphia.
CoMMUniCaTionS
CoMM 123 920 T 5:30pm–8:40pm rodriguez
Communication and Popular Culture
Popular culture has been alternately dismissed as mere trivia and
condemned as propaganda, a tool of mass deception. This course introduces
students to some of the most important critiques of culture
since the 1930s and to different kinds of research that can help us
understand popular culture and its effects. Students will investigate
how different cultural forms communicate ideas about the world.
Overarching questions for the course include: How do various popular
culture forms represent social life? Why do we consume popular
culture in the ways that we do? How can we look at popular culture
to understand the world better, including our place in the world? To
answer these questions, we will explore a range of media and genres,
including television, film, advertising, music, books, magazines, and
the Internet. The course develops critical reading skills that can be
applied to both scholarly and popular texts.
CoMM 130 920 Tr 5:30pm–8:40pm Penney
Introduction to Mass Media and Society
Fulfills Society Sector
How might we think about the legal, political, economic, historical,
and “cultural” considerations that shape what we watch on TV, read in
books, stare at in billboards? What ideas are relevant for examining
the enormous changes in the mass media system and the consequences
of those changes? The aim of this course is to begin to answer these
questions by acquainting you with the workings of American mass
media as an integral part of American society.
CoMM 226 920 Tr 1:00pm–4:10pm roodhouse
Introduction to Political Communication
This course is an introduction to the field of political communication,
conceptual approaches to analyzing communication in various
forms, including advertising, speech making, campaign debates, and
candidates’ and office-holders’ uses of news. The focus of this course
is on the interplay in the U.S. between television and politics. The
course includes a history of televised campaign practices from the
1952 presidential contest through the election of 2008.
SUMMER SESSIOn II • JULY 6–AUgUST 13, 2010 29