Topics in Film Studies: Paul Thomas Anderson--Audit Option

Course meets Thursday evenings beginning October 29 and ending December 17 (8 weeks total). 

Meeting times are 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

When Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakthrough sophomore feature, Boogie Nights , was released in 1997, it was hard to tell what to make of this 27-year-old wunderkind. Was he a student of Scorsese? A wannabe Tarantino clone? An Altman acolyte? Now, nearly thirty years later and after just having won Best Director and Best Picture at the Oscars for his tenth narrative feature, One Battle After Another , an auteurist approach to his filmography produces dividends. In this course, we will look at Anderson’s major themes—family (both found and biological), masculinity, American iniquity—as well as examine his remarkable skill at directing actors, adapting “unadaptable” books, and crafting distinctly modern epics.