This integrative capstone seminar challenges students to think and philosophize about depictions of war and peace in film. Almost every week students will screen a film that explores issues of war and peace; screenings will be followed by a discussion of the film facilitated by the professor and guest faculty with expertise in the film or the conflict that the film depicts. The first half of the course will focus on the study of both different kinds of armed conflict (for example, symmetrical and asymmetrical conflicts) and different kinds of cinematic depictions of armed conflict (for example, documentary, linear and non-linear narrative, realism, etc.). The second half of the course will focus on some of the moral dilemmas and conundra that arise within the framework of armed conflict (for instance, whether states should intrude upon state sovereignty to stop genocide). Students will also be challenged to reflect upon their own general education and specialization within the College of Arts and Sciences and its majors. The course will culminate in a signature work that synthesizes insight from both the films we have viewed and discussed and a student’s own experience of education at Quinnipiac University.
