L.COM 141 - Box Office to Boxing Ring-EI

Credits: 3

This course will help students to examine and analyze the rich history of boxing as a film genre as well as the form and movements associated with the sport of boxing. As an analytical topic, film study has a rich theoretical heritage both creatively and culturally. Historically, some of the first moving pictures shown in public in the 1890s were of boxing matches. As a sport, boxing has a deep socio-political, cultural and racial heritage as well. Jack Johnson shattered the color line and became the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion in 1908, 38 years before Jackie Robinson played his first major league baseball game. Muhammad Ali constructed the stage for athletes as political actors in the 1970s, decades before Colin Kaepernick took a knee.
Prerequisite: None
Co-requisite: None
General Education Classification: Identity, Culture, & Society-EI