First, let me thank you all for your participation in my recent media studies series, especially the one about recent trends in horror movies. That series has been my most successful so far, and I appreciate all the enthusiasm and energy you brought to it. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Second, thanks for your kind patience while I took a short break and figured out what’s next for the Professor Chuck website and my media studies series. This project started back in March, during the early days of the pandemic. Kids and adults were scrambling to adapt, trying to figure out what school and work would look like and wondering how long all the sudden changes would last. While we still don’t know when or how things might get back to “normal,” it’s becoming clear that we need to settle into doing things remotely for a while yet.
Rest assured, I’m here for you. I’ll keep doing online media studies for as long as you maintain interest in watching movies with me.
But, given that we don’t know when anybody will be back at school or the office, I plan to drop the five-week “class” approach for now and resume our enterprise as an open-ended, on-going media studies series, sort of a movie-watching club with me as your guide. For now, we’re going to focus entirely on the horror genre since that has clearly gotten the most interest. Also, truth be told, those first five weeks barely allowed us to scratch the surface of the horror genre. Let’s roll up our sleeves and really dig into it!
Starting this coming weekend (July 18-19), we’re diving back into horror movies. I’m definitely open to your suggestions as we move into Fall, but until the end of August we’re going to watch recent films by women directors.
July 18-19: “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” (2014), writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour
July 25-26: “The Babadook” (2014), writer/director Jennifer Kent
August 1-2: “The Invitation” (2015), director Karyn Kusama
August 8-9: “Raw” (2016), writer/director Julia Ducournau
August 15-16: “Prevenge” (2016), writer/director Alice Lowe
August 22-23: “Revenge” (2017), writer/director Coralie Fargeat
August 29-30: “Knives and Skin” (2019), writer/director Jennifer Reeder
Starting later today (Friday, July 17), I’ll post an introduction to our horror movie of the weekend and a short list of discussion questions. You’ll send me your written responses to the questions by early next week (say Tuesday at the latest). Then I post a wrap-up of the movie by mid-week. And we’ll launch into the next film the following Friday.
Lurkers are welcome to follow along on their own, but if you’re planning to send me weekly responses to the discussion questions, please do let me know so I can “enroll” you in the series and add you to my list. I want to make sure I have time to send meaningful responses, so enrollment is limited. That said, I do still have space for a few more people to join. Enrollment and participation is always free, but I’m happy to accept your donations to help keep this project running.
Enrolled or not, always feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or comments: chuckcarusophd@gmail.com
Welcome back to the horror! I’m delighted to have you joining us.
Professor Chuck 