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.
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.