Dr Christopher Lloyd
The big easy. Crescent city. The city that
care forgot. Since its founding in 1718 by the French, New Orleans has been a
feted site of violence, desire, excess, otherness, music and cultural mixing. Its
location on the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River makes it one of the most interesting
cities in the U.S., both geographically and culturally. This day school will
examine NOLA’s representation on the big screen, and investigate the ways in
which cinema has defined the ways in which we understand this infamous city.
We will focus on four films that reveal
some of the key themes ascribed to the city. After an introduction to New
Orleans—through music, clips, maps, and discussion—we will examine
representations of gender and sexuality in the city, especially as they relate
to space and place. In analyzing Jezebel and
A Streetcar Named Desire, we will see
the ways in which New Orleans is a city defined by sexual excesses and the
strains put on gender roles. The films will be contextualized by theories of
the Southern Belle and regional history. In the afternoon, we will move on to
more recent films that focus on criminality, violence and policing. Looking at The Big Easy and The Bad Lieutenant, we will explore the city’s notoriously corrupt
law enforcement, the legacies of Southern violence, and the relations between
race and violence. This day school will begin to unravel some of the reasons
that New Orleans is such a magnetic, intriguing and unique city, especially on
screen.
Required viewing: Jezebel (Wyler, 1938), A
Streetcar Named Desire (Kazan, 1951), The
Big Easy (McBride, 1987), The Bad
Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Herzog, 2009).
Book your tickets here!
