Week Two: Transmedia Culture--The Hunger Games

Still from amateur Propo for The Hunger Games

This week I am asking you to read whatever volume of The Hunger Games that you haven't read yet. In what ways is The Hunger Games like The Wizard of Oz? What elements are similiar? Are the themes alike? Why is this the case? How is the Hunger Games a transmedia text? How has the Hunger Games become spreadable media?

Jennifer Lawrence read Mockingjay

We will discuss these issues and begin writing your written response to the first two texts in the course during this week's class. Please watch at least one of the Hunger Games movies before this week's class discussion. 

On the set of Mockingjay

Remember to check the course resource page and please remember to bring your laptop or tablet to class. We will be writing in class this week.

Week One: Wizard of Oz

Illustration by W.W. Denslow 1900

Welcome to Literature and Media Studies, the required course in literature at Ringling.  I will go over the syllabus with you when we meet on Tuesday morning in room 208 of the Academic Center. 

Before our first class please 

read The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. There are several free versions of this text online but I have placed a version with the original illustrations on the course resource page. You can access the course resource page using this link or the link in the course links box in the upper right of this page. The username and password required to access the course resources are your Ringling username and password. 

If you have read the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz recently, read another of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. These are available on the course resource page to download and read electronically or on an e-reader. The pdf versions of these books have been scanned with original illustrations which is an important aspect of reading these books.

After you have read an Oz book please read one of the selected short stories on the course resource page by contemporary authors who revisit the concept of Oz. It would be also good, if you get the chance, to see the 1939 Movie, The Wizard of Oz or the 1985 movie, Return to Oz especially if you have never seen them before. Please do not watch the movie and think this substitutes for reading the book. 

So here is your check list for what you need to do before class on Tuesday:

1. Read The Wizard of Oz, or one of its sequels. Read the book, just watching the movie of the Wizard of Oz is fine but does not meet the assignment.
2. Read one of the short stories revisiting Oz.
3. Try to watch the required movie for this week, The Wizard of Oz.
4. Bring your laptop or Ipad to class on Tuesday morning.

You can email me any questions. I will see you on Tuesday morning. If you want to read ahead our next book will be Suzanne Collin's Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games Trilogy.