SPAN 396/CMS 397B: Hispanic Horror
Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-2:20 in SAV 155.
Professor Mercer
Office: Padelford B219
Office hours: Tuesdays 2:30-3:20 and by appointment
Telephone: 543-2059
Email: lmercer@uw.edu
Course materials:
***All films are available to stream on our course Canvas website, under “Pages” except for Rescate de distancia/Fever Dream which is on Netflix.
- ¿Quién puede matar a un niño?/Who Can Kill a Child? (1976); Narciso Ibáñez Serrador (SPAIN)
- Cronos (1993); Guillermo del Toro (MEXICO)
- Tesis/Thesis (1996); Alejandro Amenábar (SPAIN)
- El orfanato/ The Orphanage (2007); J.A. Bayona (SPAIN)
- La mujer sin cabeza/ The Headless Woman (2008); Lucrecia Martel (ARGENTINA)
- Juan de los Muertos/ Juan of the Dead (2011); Alejandro Brugués (CUBA)
- La piel que habito/ The Skin I Live In (2011); Pedro Almodóvar (SPAIN)
- La casa muda/ Silent House (2010); Gustavo Hernández (URUGUAY)
- Distancia de rescate/Fever Dream (2021); Claudia Llosa (CHILE, SPAIN, UNITED STATES CO-PRODUCTION) [Netflix]
***Articles are available on our Canvas website under “Files.”
Course Goals and Requirements:
This course examines the center and periphery of horror production in the Spanish-speaking world, from the 1970s to the present day. We will interrogate common assumptions about what constitutes horror in Spain and Latin America, thereby complicating notions of what it means to translate an international genre for a culturally particular public. Topics will include ghosts, zombies and historical memory; childhood and horror; audiovisual violence; terrifying women; body horror; and environmental horror.
- Class attendance is essential, because your active participation is required for this course to function properly. Students should come to class having screened the films and prepared the readings and be ready to participate regularly in discussion.
- To broaden class discussion and support student learning, each student will participate in a group presentation (2-3 members) on one of the films under study. Presentations will take place after a short break and at the end of our class time, so presenters should be aware that a great deal of general discussion will have already taken place about the film’s director, plot, characters, and general themes. Thus, these elements should not be the focus of presentations. Groups will present for 20-25 minutes total (PLEASE KEEP TO THIS TIME LIMIT). One student must focus on summarizing and analyzing the assigned critical readings for the day. Other students should each choose a brief scene to analyze in depth with the class, communicating your scene timestamp to Prof. Mercer via email, at least 24 hours before class. Your scene analysis may focus on national or gender representation, mise-en-scène, cinematography, sound, editing, narrative, style, authorship, or elements of the horror genre. Students will be graded individually on their preparedness and ability to facilitate class discussion. As much as possible, students should make their presentations interactive. Ask questions of your classmates! Dialogue with them!
- There will be two papers assigned during the quarter, the first 3-4 pages long and the second 5-6 pages long. Students will choose from two or three paper topics which will be distributed one week in advance of the paper due date. Students must use MLA Handbook style for citations. If you are unfamiliar with MLA style, you can find more information here: http://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/citations/mla-style
- It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/.
- Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.
- If you are feeling sick, please stay home and take care of yourself. There is no need to email me unless this affects your presentation or an exam deadline. You can make up participation points lost for up to 2 missed classes. Simply email me a paragraph of reaction to that day’s film and/or readings within 2 days of missing class. I cannot accept participation make-up work beyond that.
- No late papers will be accepted unless you provide a written medical excuse.
Grading:
Participation: 15%
Presentation: 20%
First Paper 30%
Second Paper: 35%
Course Schedule:
September 26: Introduction to the course
Defining Horror
Read: “What is ‘Horror’? and “The Nature of Horror.”
October 1: Screen: Who Can Kill a Child?
October 3: Read: “Spanish Horror Film, Introduction,” and “Narciso Ibáñez Serrador (only read the section on Quién puede matar a un niño?)”
October 8: Screen: Cronos
October 10: Read: “Translatio Vampyri,” and “Antipodean Horrors.”
Presentation:
October 15: Screen: Thesis
October 17: Read: “Sounds Like Horror” and “Film Bodies.”
Presentation:
October 22: Screen: The Orphanage
October 24: Read: “Monstrous (Re)productions” and “The Monstrous Feminine” (read Introduction and Chapter 1).
Presentation:
October 29: Screen: The Headless Woman
October 31: Read: “A Counter-narrative of Argentine Mourning”
First Paper Topics Handed Out
Presentation:
November 5: NO CLASS. PROF. MERCER IS AT A CONFERENCE. Work on First Paper.
November 7: NO CLASS. PROF. MERCER IS AT A CONFERENCE. Turn In First Paper Via Canvas by 12:30pm.
November 12: Screen: Juan of the Dead
November 14: Read: “Bromance, Homosociality, and the Crisis of Masculinity” “and “Caribbean Monsters (read up to page 48)”
Presentation:
November 19: Screen: The Skin I Live In
November 21: Read: “Dude, Where’s My Phallus?” and “Skin Gazing”
Presentation:
November 26: Screen:Silent House
Read: “Suspendido en el tiempo (only read the introduction and the section on Silent House)”
November 28: THANKSGIVING BREAK
December 3: Screen: Fever Dream (***AVAILABLE ON NETFLIX***)
Second Paper Topics Handed Out
December 5: No regular class! Optional writing consultations with Professor Mercer via Zoom. Please come to the Zoom waiting room and wait your turn. https://washington.zoom.us/j/4871754642
***December 10: Turn in Second Paper Via Canvas by 12:30pm