CHID 250 E: Special Topics: Introduction to the History of Ideas

RELIGIONS AND THE MODERN HORROR FIL (A&H, SSC) ___ FROM THE EXORCIST (1973) AND THE WICKER MAN (1973) TO MIDSOMMAR (2019) AND THE VVITCH (2016), RELIGIOUS THEMES HAVE BEEN A MAJOR ELEMENT IN HORROR FILMS IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN CINEMA. WE WILL EXPLORE SCHOLARSHIP ON THE INTERSECTION OF HORROR THEORY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES, EXPLORING THEMES SUCH AS EXORCISM, APOCALYPSES, AND CULTS, AND PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE REPRESENTATION OF RELIGIOUS OTHERNESS AND INTERSECTIONS OF GENDER, SEXUALITY, RACE, AND CLASS, SHOWING THAT AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERSATION ABOUT THE WAYS RELIGIONS AND CULTURES ARE PORTRAYE IN HORROR FILMS OFFERS A WINDOW INT THE ENDURING RELEVANCE OF RELIGION IN THE MODERN WORLD.