Instructor: Greg Lyons
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Biography: Greg Lyons earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Texas at Austin. For twenty years, he served as Professor of English at COCC. For six years, he coordinated a college study-abroad program with sites in Mexico, Costa Rica, London, and Florence, where he taught for two quarters. Beginning in the 1990s, he designed several 4-credit Popular Culture courses, including HUM 265, and Film Noir, which he taught four times. In addition, he studied for a month at the British Film Institute in London and presented conference papers on such topics as "Mildred Pierce: From Novel to Film," "Production Process in The Third Man," "Desert Noir" and "The Moral Women in Film Noir." Over the years, he developed three public film series and presented lectures analyzing directors, actors, and cinematographers of the classic noir period, as well as more recent examples of "neo-noir" cinema. |
Classes by this instructor
Film Noir
Film noir usually tells a story of crime and sexual passion. A strong woman, often portrayed as the femme fatale or spider woman, is central to the plot. A weaker man, who might be called the homme fatal, is usually manipulated to steal or kill as part of a plan to be together with his lover. Society is often portrayed as corrupt, and the hero or antihero begins on the edge of this society. The films of the classic noir period, 1941-1959, were shot in black and white, though critics argue whether noir films can be made in color. In any case, the cinematography of high-contrast, shadowy images and reflections serves to emphasize a theme of entrapment. As a post-World War II phenomenon, the films reflect the violence of war and a changing social order. Besides viewing and critiquing the cinematic art of the films, the course will consider whether film noir is a genre or a style. The course will meet weekly for five weeks, viewing five feature films and one documentary.
May 1-29, 2024 | 4:00pm-6:30pm | Bend