FMS 468 Crime and Violence in American Film

Crime and violence have been central elements of American cinema throughout its history. Popular critic Roger Ebert has commented that 'More than anything else, the American movie audience loves violence.'

In this course we will address three primary aspects of crime and violence in American film: 1) the limits placed upon them by the Production Code, and how and why those restrictions were relaxed; 2) how the depiction of crime and violence in American movies conveys attitudes in our society about their causes and the best responses to these problems; and 3) theories about the effects on audiences of viewing crime and violence in films.