Originally Posted by SWedd523
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I stay in Columbia year round now so since I haven't been able to get a job, I decided to take some summer classes. The one I just finished up was "Illegal Drug Films". We pretty much covered how the media and the government has shaped the public perception of the drug trade (and how it relates to other things like race, etc.) through regulations, funding, script recommendations and things like that. We watched some crazy shit and it really helped me analyze movies from a different perspective on relation to how they portray certain issues.
Mystery of the Leaping Fish, Public Enemy (the original 1931 version), Reefer Madness, The Man With the Golden Arm, Dazed and Confused, Scarface, Traffic, were some of the ones I remember.
We had to pick our own movie and discuss the drug related themes and overarching narratives while making an argument based on the social concepts about what sort of message the director was trying to convey and if we thought it was effective... My argument was that Fuqua wasn't necessarily using drugs as the main theme, and that he was going for a Good vs. Evil perspective and how Jake represented "every guy" while Alonzo was "the Devil", also how the negative perceptions of "the street" are dispelled because there is a sense of honor and justice that does exist. yadda yadda
Basically, I sat in class every day from 2-445 and watched a movie. The only real work was the 8 page paper, 20ish pages of reading (and analysis) every day and discussion on the movie. Easy A.
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