Course Description
This class focuses on a series of films from several Spanish-speaking countries and genres. Participants will watch, analyze and discuss each movie, including its narrative and audiovisual components. The course presents basic concepts of film theory, as well as information about the cultural and historical setting of the different works. Each film viewing will be followed by a discussion about the movie's themes and cultural context. This activity will be complemented by the analysis of technical and audiovisual elements (music, sound effects, photography, etc.) and their function in the narrative. Participants will also work on individual projects dealing with Spanish and Latin American cinema, which may include teaching applications of film and other audiovisual materials. These projects will be supervised by the course instructor, who will provide guidance and any available resources.
Course films:
- Pedro Almodóvar. Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother)
- Walter Salles. Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)
- Andrés Wood. Machuca
- Alejandro Amenábar. Mar adentro (The Sea Inside)
- Guillermo del Toro. El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
Instructor: Rosa Tapia, assistant professor of Spanish
Rosa Tapia is a native of Ubeda, Spain. She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish literature from Penn State University, a M.A. in Spanish and foreign language pedagogy from the University of Delaware, and a B.A. in English philology from the Universidad de Granada (Spain). Tapia received Lawrence University's Young Teacher Award in 2005, in addition to outstanding teaching awards from each institution where she worked before joining the Lawrence faculty in 2002. She teaches Spanish language, culture, literature and film, and she has also been a featured speaker in the Freshman Studies lecture series for several years. Tapia's research focuses on Spanish and Latin American fiction and cinema, and her professional interests include the use of educational technology in foreign language instruction. Her publications include a book on contemporary Spanish fiction, as well as a number of journal articles and conference presentations on topics related to gender, national identities, historical memory, and film.
