对高年级学生开放
HON 383: Video Game Theory and Analysis
Lauren Cook | Monday 2:05–4:45 P.M. CRN 46634
Death in games can be a marker of limitations, like as a consequence of a time limit or when it helps define the physical boundaries of the narrative world. Some games make dying impossible. Some even allow for death to be erased to create different outcomes or make dying a required element of progressing. Throughout the semester, we will examine trauma theory and death in games. We’ll explore how abstraction and different interfaces factor in to the way we experience simulation and gameplay. We will question how world events, like 9/11 and ongoing wars, have impacted games. 和, we’ll think about how games can be used to both promote empire and neoliberalism, and can also be a tool to disrupt and reshape the way people think. The work for the course consists of reading responses, 游戏玩法反应, 期中论文或视频论文, 最后的项目或论文. 到学期末, students will be able to define and clearly discuss elements of games, 了解它们是如何工作的, and be able to critically analyze their historical, 结构, and artistic place in our 文化. Students will also have a basic understanding of trauma theory as it applies to game, 电影, 以及视觉媒体研究. Prerequisite: Students must have a 3.0 GPA to register for the class. 计算机科学专业的学生应联系博士. Cook to determine how the course will apply to their major. The course will meet the Arts requirements for A&年代的学生.
HON 385: Complexity and Chaos in the Visual Arts
Power Booth | Wednesdays 5–7:20 P.M. CRN 48438
This seminar will use the lens of Complexity Theory to explore a wide-range of visual artworks, 包括达·芬奇, 博世, 特纳, 戈雅, 杜尚和波洛克. These artists will be studied because they can give us a better understanding, 不仅仅是我们这个复杂的世界, but also give us insights into the many ways we have danced with 混乱 in the past. Students will be introduced to Complexity Theory and its related concepts, 包括开放, 非线性系统, 相变, 反馈回路, 分岔, 进化理论, 动荡, 出现, 最重要的是, 混乱. Students will apply their understanding of these concepts to our changing ideas of 混乱 as depicted in the visual arts for the past five hundred years.
In 宗教, 混乱 was defined as the evil firmament from which a more perfect world order emerged. 从这个角度来看, the continued existence of 混乱 explained the fall from grace and the constant presence of evil. 只有天堂才是完美的. When 混乱 could not be banished by the Newtonian clockwork model, the Scientific Revolution simply dismissed 混乱 as evidence of a lack of knowledge. 在19世纪, one form of 混乱 was the discovery of the exceptional heat energy released by fossil fuels. It was assumed that utopian progress would surely come if this chaotic energy could be controlled. By building more efficient machines, from steam engines in the 19th Century to nuclear reactors in the 20th Century, the Industrial Revolution would surely bring about endless progress. 然而, the 19th Century theory of thermodynamics and entropy revealed that the energy released by fossil fuels couldn’t be harnessed completely; there will be 混乱 always. Tragically, the energy we are releasing today will change our world in ways that cannot be reversed. Modern artists like Pollock both represent current understanding of this complex system and express existential responses to this chaotic complexity. Prerequisite: An overall GPA of 3.00或更高. This seminar can be counted as an academic elective by HA年代的学生 and/or as an HON course by HA年代的学生. It can be taken as an HON 300 seminar by A&年代的学生. It also can be taken as a non-major, general education HON course by BAR (three of first nine credits), CETA (three of first six credits), ENHP, and Hartt students (three credits of fine or performing arts).
议员389:禁书
Ayelet Brinn | Wednesdays 5–7:20 P.M. CRN 45852
This seminar explores the history and 政治 of banning, 审查, 烧书, 无论是在美国还是在国外. Reflected most recently in the rise in book banning in schools and libraries, censorship tends to focus on texts that stretch social boundaries in their depictions of race, 性, 政治, 性别, 宗教, 和科学. Students will study banned books and censored materials within their historical context, compare and contrast the treatment of different texts across time and space, and examine the relationship between power, 文化, 社会的识字率. Students will also engage with banned books and the history of censorship while developing strategies for critically analyzing the arguments made for and against such 审查. This course is only open to students who apply for it through the Humanities Center. This course can count as a UISS or a UISC. 联络Nicholas Ealy (ealy@8852888.com), Humanities Center director, for more information. 申请截止日期为4月1日.