GERST 1103

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - June 15, 2016 6:14PM EDT
  • Course Catalog - June 9, 2016 6:15PM EDT

GERST 1103
FWS: Fables of Capitalism

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2015-2016.

Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism? What prevents us from joining oppositions to capitalism after the 2008-09 economic crisis? Have all utopias died with state socialism? How does advertising sell the current dystopia as "cool capitalism"? And what roles do race and gender play? This seminar examines fictions (written and cinematic) that maintain but also contest global capitalism as the dominant social, economic, and political order. With Marx's and later Marxist writings, we consider such "fables" as Roland Barthes, Mythologies; Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49; David Fincher, Fight Club; and Lizzie Borden, Born in Flames. Analyzing these texts and constructing arguments about them will hone our analytical reading and critical writing skills.

When Offered Spring.

Satisfies Requirement First-Year Writing Seminar.

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Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17666 GERST 1103   SEM 101

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  • For more information about First-year Writing Seminars, see the Knight Institute website at http://www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute.