Priests, Pentagrams and Plasma: The Ethics of Horror


This course is designed for students who have a fascination with the horror genre and want to get an idea of how it fits into our society as a whole. The programme includes a study of classic horror films.

Created By

George W

Adult
Film Studies

7 HOURS

7 LESSONS

Priests, Pentagrams and Plasma: The Ethics of Horror

academic-development

Course Overview



In his book 'In the Dust of This Planet', Eugene Thacker suggests that horror is about 'the limit of thought' - a means of thinking about the unthinkable. So how can we use horror films to understand and analyse the society we live in? On this course, students will explore how they can use horror and horror tropes to think critically about a range of topics, from mental illness to feminism, examining films from classics such as 'The Shining' to more recent works such as 'Hereditary.' By the end of this course, students will have developed skills in film theory, cultural appreciation and philosophy. Students will also grow their overall confidence and understanding of film as a whole and the course acts a springboard from which to leap into a study of other genres.

Course Content



7 LESSONS

7 HOURS Total Length

Lesson 1

'Into the Depths': Lovecraft, MR James, Thacker and the Unknown

60 minutes

Lesson 2

'Last Girl Standing': Mothers and Women in Horror

60 minutes

Lesson 3

'We're Americans': Society, Class and the Horror of Snobbery

60 minutes

Lesson 4

'Green and Pleasant': Britain and Folk Horror

60 minutes

Lesson 5

'The Pit of Despair': Mental Illness and the Horror of Depression

60 minutes

Lesson 6

'The Descent of Man': the Horror of Masculinity

60 minutes

Lesson 7

'I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee': Horror and Understanding

60 minutes

Key Skills


Film Theory

Literary Theory

Basic Philosophy

Cultural Appreciation

Educator


George W

English Language Expert

George provides lessons to people with an already high level of English who look to improve on more advanced areas such as pronunciation, idiomatic phrases, phrasal verbs and even slang. George values building vocabulary and working on accents and has helped several people with IELTS and job interview preparations held in English.