ENGL 2771

Africa in Hollywood

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

In Eddie Murphy's Coming to America, Africa is a place of nobility, where even lions are at peace with lambs. In contrast, Leonardo DeCaprio's Blood Diamond is a violent look at the role the demand for diamonds has played in destabilizing mineral-rich African countries. But if Hollywood has long been concerned with depicting Africa in particular ways, African filmmakers are at the same time creating their own stories. Popular and scholarly film critics are also contributing to the battle over who speaks for Africa. In this course we will explore these competing images of Africa, questions of imagination versus reality, and the extent to which artists should, if at all, be responsible to the subject of their art.

When Offered Fall or Spring.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS, GLC-AS) (CA-AG, LA-AG)
Satisfies Requirement This course counts toward the Literatures of the Global South and post-1800 requirements for English majors.

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