Youth At Odds With Itself, Seeking Role Models? A Cinematic Investigation
Instructor: Rachel Edelson, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Description: This seminar uses four highly controversial films made within the last decade, as a means to explore and better understand some of the social forces affecting and afflicting current young adults. Students will write a personal response every week to the film we have watched, as well as to the discussion we have had on a previous film. They will also do outside research from film reviews and relevant news / journal articles. There is no formal or final essay. The final assignment of the course will be a 3-4 page discussion on how a student's thinking has changed during the course.
Format: The films will include “Thirteen,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “American Beauty” and “Kids.” Grading: Grades will be based on participation in class discussions (25%) and written work (75%).
About the Instructor: Rachel Edelson has been teaching first and fourth year UC Davis Psychiatry residents for ten years, using fiction as a model to show them how to "read" their patients more effectively. As well, she has been teaching composition and literature for fifteen years, and currently teaches a College Composition course based on the psychological origins of Censorship, and an Advanced Critical Thinking course based on the psychology of Human Evil.