Introduction to the Humanities courses usually concentrate mostly, or even exclusively, on written texts. In this course we are taking a different approach. We will encounter characters and themes not simply in a written form, but will consider each as it appears in and is transformed by a variety of different media (film, opera, symphonic music). In this way the emphasis of the course will be not only on reading, but on viewing and hearing as well, and on consideration of how the medium itself affects experience. It is our aim to introduce you to a variety of aesthetic experiences and to the differing interpretative challenges that each presents. Each unit is constructed to move from texts that today fall into the category of high culture or art (Mozart, Shakespeare, Nietzsche)--conventional elements of the college syllabus--to works of today's contemporary culture, in order to allow you to see the ways in which this material is transformed in the process.

The course is designed to address four questions:
(1) How do we experience different media as reader, viewer, and listener? (2) How does each medium make its impression, that is, what materials, techniques, strategies are available to each medium and what are their limits. (3) What are the interrelationships of high or elite culture to more popular forms like movies? (4) How do drama, film, and opera develop and interact over time?











This site was designed and built by Francesca Draughon.
Contact draughon@stanford.edu for technical support.