CLIMATE CHANGE IN LITERATURE, ART AND FILM

Course Objectives: This course aims to examine the aesthetics of climate change across media, in order to understand how narrative, image, and sound help us witness a planetary disaster that is often imperceptible. The course is designed to be comparative: what kind of story about climate change can a science fiction novel about a dystopian future tell, and how is this story different than, say, that of an art installation made of melting blocks of Arctic ice? Do different media tend to emphasize different aspects of ecological crisis? Readings and discussions will introduce students to some of the ways that humanities scholarship is contributing to climate change research. Course Content: The units of this course addresses aesthetic responses to four major climate impacts: Arctic warming, sea-level rise, climate refugees, and mass extinction. Within each unit, the course deals with how different media—drama, art installations, art or documentary photography, fiction, etc.—represent and frame these impacts both globally and locally.