Arms and the Man

Catalog description

"Mother Green and her killing machine!" So enthuses a grunt in Full Metal Jacket about the Marine Corps. This seminar explores the romance of man and machine: the individual man's body as a machine and group relations with each man as a cog in a larger body/machine. We'll also consider other sites—including the gym—infiltrated, at least figuratively, by militarism. Texts: Crane, The Red Badge; Herr, Dispatches; Swofford, Jarhead; Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory; Samuel Fussell, Muscle. Films: Full Metal Jacket; The Hurt Locker; GI Jane; Three Kings; Pumping Iron. Enrollment limited to 19. Instructor permission required.