A Brief History of the Brief History of the DCAD Film Club

The DCAD Film Club originated in Writing and Literature I class discussions during the spring semester of 2009. In the cours of that semester thematic aspects of the works under consideration (Gilgamesh, Odyssey, Aeneid, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures, and classical works of India, China, and Japan) were often illuminated by reference to films. The discussion continued in the second part of the Writing and Lit sequence during the summer, which focused on works of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and in the Fall of 2009 the DCAD film club had its inception under the loose thematic rubric of The Quest. The first semester's films included Wrist-Cutters , The Fountain, Easy Rider, Time Bandits, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The basic format for the meetings has been brief presentations by faculty and students on significant aspects of the film, and a viewing of the film followed by refreshments and general discussion.
This semester's theme is Bad Guys and Failed Kingdoms and is loosely geared to some of the themes that are being explored in the King Arthur and Robin Hood elective. Scheduled films include Dark Knight, Bonnie and Clyde, Unforgiven, Fisher King, The Mission, and Satyricon.
We will shortly publish a schedule for the semester. Future posts will review the previous semester's films, including some of the original faculty and student commentary on the films and open threads for ongoing discussion. Also being planned is a history of the legendary band Elvish Presley (no relation to the New Jersey comedy troupe of the same name). This history is also linked to course content in that it explores the reltionship between reality, imagination, and myth generation with especial emphasis on the last two.