SPAN 312 - Advanced Language and Culture: Representations of Childhood in Spanish Literature and Cinema

The depiction of childhood and youth in different art forms provides a fascinating lens for understanding the pressing social and political preoccupations that have informed Spanish culture across time. The topic will be studied via a varied corpus of materials that includes a coming-of-age story, poetry, drama, and contemporary film. The diverse portrayals of young protagonists in those works invite us to consider radically different conceptions of the following: familial conflict, the relationship between family and community, the childish imagination, motherhood, human evil, and social corruption. We will examine works by Rosalía de Castro, Federico García Lorca, Carlos Saura, and Pedro Almodóvar among others. Alongside its thematic focus, this course is designed to refine and enhance language skills. In addition to oral practice in class, students will write short essays.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 212 or equivalent
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).