2020-21 Academic Catalog

A survey of film musicals from their beginnings in the 1920s to the present. The course will cover the definition and attributes of film musicals, how a film musical differs from a film with music, and then continue with a historical survey of various eras of musicals, such as early sound film musicals, the film musical at its zenith, the adaptation of Broadway musicals to the screen, and current postmodern musicals and animated musicals by Disney and Pixar. The course will also discuss how musicals convey evolving cultural attitudes of gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, as well as good vs. evil.