Pod Cine Cool

Week 14: Cool Subversion

John and Amanda wrap up the course with an examination of the cool and anti-cool messages of Fight Club. How does Chuck Palahniuk and David Fincher's vision of the end of cool reflect all the other messages we've gotten through this course? And where does it leave us -- standing alone at the apocalpyse, or ready for action?

Week 13: Cool Literacy

Jason and Hayley dissect the influences that made Quentin Tarantino an instant arbiter of cool with his first film, Reservoir Dogs. To what notions of cool do these characters subscribe? How does the writer-director comment on their attempts to be cool -- both successful and unsuccessful?

Week 12: Cool Obsession

Julie and Lucy take us into the underground world of drag balls in New York City through the documentary Paris Is Burning. The gay and transgendered participants long to perfect the illusion of what they are not -- so much so that they can live as if they were. How does the "realness" they seek relate to the cool that we've been tracking all semester?

Week 11: Cool Satire

Anna and Suzanne dig beneath the action movie and science fiction tropes to find the biting social commentary in Robocop. What is director Paul Verhoeven warning us about? How does the action genre help or hinder him? Does the aura of cool that surrounds gory death scenes and big explosions lend itself to passing along a message with our entertainment?

week 10: Cool Escapism

Emileigh and Jerry takes us out to the disco and explore the ugly side of the cool quest revealed by Saturday Night Fever.  What does Travolta's character seek out there on the neon dance floor?  Is his ambition consistent with his character?  And is there any future for him in the cool persona he cultivates?

Week 9: Cool Minority

Luke and Amy take the A train to Harlem with Shaft, one bad shut-your-mouth.  They explore the world of blaxploitation and its relationship to other genres from which it draws, notably gangster movies and film noir.  What is it about Shaft that makes him such an enduring representative of cool?  And how does the world of cool intersect with -- or even spring from -- African-American culture?

Week 8: Cool Rebellion

Brittney and Logan take a trip from L.A. to New Orleans with Captain America in Easy Rider.  They explore the vision of the American dream is Dennis Hopper promoting and critiquing in this classic expression of countercultural ideals, and ask how this version of cool colors outside the lines.  How do these rebels relate to the heroes and icons that defined America cinema in the decades previous to the sixties watershed?

Week 7: Cool Culture

John and Amanda dive into the hip, sexually aggressive, emotionally distant London that Michaelangelo Antonioni portrays in Blow-Up. What's the relationship between voyeurism and a cool attitude? Are obsessions -- like quests for beauty and truth -- cool? Can the restless motion and sensation-seeking of modern culture find a balance between playfulness and really caring about something?

Week 6: Cool Love

Lucy and Julie explore the innovative, modern image of love provided by Francois Truffaut's Jules And Jim. What makes love cool?  Does it burn bright only for a moment?  Is the long-lasting devotion of friends or married couples cool, or is it the ephemeral, dramatic, roller-coaster ride of love that we idolize?

Week 5: Cool Darkness

Jason and Hayley unearth the cool side of film noir. What is it in the shadows that so fascinates us? And how have these tough, cynical movies exerted an enduring influence on our culture?