This course is not currently offered, please contact the school or faculty of your program.

Course description

NOT OFFERED 2012 Through a focus on representations of the modern city in film and text, the course will pursue comparative approaches to the semiotics of culture and the 'reading' of cultural phenomena. Students will study a variety of textual &/or filmic representations of four or five major cities of the world (eg. Paris, Berlin, St Petersburg, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Venice, Vienna) in order to understand how the metropolis is constructed as more than just a place to live: as myth, microcosm, symbol, object of dread or obsession, a set of conditions for modern living. Close attention will be paid to the analysis of images and texts that represent & interpret the cities for us, as well as to seminal theoretical works. This course may be cancelled if there are fewer than 20 enrolments.