USLT420

Combining media theory and film history, this course considers the film industry's relationship to Latinidad, examining issues such as the shift from silent film to sound, the impact made on Latina/o images by the Second World War, and Latinas/os in the Red Scare. The second half of the course turns its attention to self-representation by Latina/o filmmakers and empathetic images created by whites in and after the 1970s. Some of the questions that the course addresses include: How have Latinas/os been depicted in Hollywood history? How have inter-American foreign relations shaped the US Latina/o image? How have Latina/o filmmakers confronted issues such as racism and sexism in the United States?