Mar 29, 2024  
Academic Catalog 2017-2018 
    
Academic Catalog 2017-2018 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

LASS252 Media, Race & Law 3cr


This course examines the intersection
between moving images, racial stereotypes
and the law. Most media representations of
target groups are misleading - often offering
distorted social and political constructs in
their place. This course challenges those
assumptions through thoughtful inquiries
into the intricate modes of law and the racial
coding of moving images. This course draws
on an array of social, legal and cinematic
sources. From D.W. Griffith’s 1915 proslavery
caricature of African-Americans in
the film, “The Birth of a Nation,” to current
YouTube and mainstream discussions that
dangerously blur the boundaries between
“terrorists,” Muslims and President, Barrack
Hussein Obama. In addition to screening
films that reveal the harmful and derogatory
portrayals of target groups (Native and
African Americans, Jews, Asians, Latinos,
people of Arab descent - the list goes on.),
we will analyze case law and articles that
reflect the impact these biases have on shaping
public policies designed to advantage some at
the disadvantage of others. Ultimately, this
course aims to challenge clichés and configure
a more complicated way to view stereotyped
groups, which are truer to what people know
and what our imaginations are able to consider.

Prerequisites: FRSM-100 and LALW-100

Lecture
Fall