79-339 Juvenile Delinquency & Film: From Soul of Youth (1920) to West Side Story (1961)

6 units, Carnegie Mellon University

How have American films portrayed juvenile delinquency and the juvenile justice system What does filmmakers portrayal of juvenile delinquency tell us about American culture and society Do films vividly capture or badly distort the realities of crime and the operations of the justice system This course uses feature films to be viewed in advance of class from the 1920s to the early 1960s, as well as sociological, psychological, and historical readings, to explore these issues. The course is run as a colloquium, with students playing central leadership roles in launching and guiding class discussions. The course will have a takehome midterm exam essay, a final exam essay, and a few short, written assignments linked to students required oral presentations in class.

Prerequisites: none listed

Courseweave needs JavaScript to show sections, workloads and planning tools.