THEA 250 Period Styles for Stage and Screen
Period style can be characterized as the aesthetic traits common to a particular historic or cultural moment. For recorded media and live performance, writers, directors and designers set their storytelling in a framework of time and place. In this class, we explore examples of shifting styles across select non-Western and Western cultures and through time and seek to discern their influence on other cultures or historical periods. Through this exploration, we begin to understand how architecture, interior design, fashion history and the act of dressing evolved throughout the centuries and across cultures because of technological advancements, changes in economic and social class structures, in political climates and through appropriation of cultural aesthetics. Why was there a kimono specialist in the costume department of Westworld? How did Ruth E. Carter develop her Afrofuturist vision for Black Panther? Where would you find visual and dramaturgical resources for Vietgone, or Hair, or Cambodian Rock Band, the action of each set in a similar historical period but whose stories are told from very different cultural perspectives? We will investigate these and other questions through reading, and critical analysis of visual records, plays and films, in-class discussions, and presentations.
Core Requirements Met
- Fine Arts
- Global Connections