Animating Narratives: Disney, Documentaries, & Designing College Personal Statements (Online Course) + SAT Prep Course

This course examines how the cultural and critical forms of fairy tales, documentaries, and analytic arguments depict the nuances between knowledge, wisdom, fact, fiction, power, and persuasion. Tracing the common theme of the "overcoming narrative" across these genres enables us to observe and analyze: 1) How fairy tales have been used to create role models and ideals rooted in specific cultural systems and ideologies; 2) How documentary storytelling creates an atmosphere of credibility and truth-telling; and 3) How college-level writing prepares us to become critically-informed and community-minded citizens of an increasingly globalized world. First, our course will examine the cultural and political assumptions and consequences that drive the retellings and adaptations of certain fairy tales. Next, our work with documentaries engages with questions about truth, multiple sides to every story, and the social assumptions made about typecasted people and communities. Finally, our course culminates in a capstone project where students will complete their own analytic projects that align with the learning objectives of the AP English Language and Composition exam and introductory level College Composition and Rhetoric courses.