Course Catalog

Rock and Roll Movies is an interdisciplinary examination of the advent and journey of rock and roll music as it has been represented onscreen from 1955 through 2021. The class focuses specifically on the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s through the height of its influence in the late 1970s and examines the deathless mythologies that helped to shape not only the future of popular music but also the emergence of subversive subcultures that continue to inform signifiers of rebellion and anti-mainstream subcultures well into the 21st century. A distinctly visual art form, rock and roll has long been a source of interest to filmmakers caught in its thrall; we’ll be listening to, reading about, and watching the ways that cinema has reflected, reinforced, and reshaped the powerful cultural narratives of rock throughout the 20th century and lamented its demise in 21st century nostalgia markets.