Alfred Hitchcock made over 50 films in six decades and had a reputation for transforming the genre of suspense and for being a difficult man to work with. We’ll explore his highlights, some hidden gems, and look at the legacy of his work still alive today over forty years after his death.

The Beatles were an undeniable force in pop music when they burst onto American radio in 1964. But would they have had the cultural reach and longevity without film and television? From The Ed Sullivan Show to A Hard Day’s Night and Help! up to The Beatles Anthology and Get Back, the Beatles have always used the moving image to shape their image and legacy. And that’s not even counting movies about them! We’ll say yeah yeah yeah to all of it and explore the way film and television helped created the Beatles legend.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” But what does that mean when it comes to what may be the most prolific fictional character on screen? From 1908 to 2025, Holmes has been appeared on screens big and small over 250 times. The character affords a wide variety of interpretations and has been popular with some of the best performers of our times. Grab the nearest deerstalker hat, a briar pipe, and your best knowledge of deduction as we uncover “What is the truth of Sherlock Holmes?”

From Little Caesar in 1931 to a Sopranos prequel in 2021, we can’t get enough of a certain type of criminal. What are the origins of the gangster film and why do we like them so much? We’ll look at highlights and also talk about what a gangster movie looks like around the world.

The first commercial film to use sound, 1927’s The Jazz Singer, was in a sense a musical. Why did movies sing almost before they could talk, and what have movie musicals meant to pop culture over the past hundred years? Are they merely escapist fluff, or can they offer commentary along the way?

James Dean, who died seventy years ago in September, left behind three classic films and a reputation for coolness that has long outlived his 24 years. What can we say about the influence he had on acting and culture, and what do East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant still have to say to us?

Marilyn Monroe was born 100 years ago in June. During her short and turbulent life, she changed her name, her persona, and the face of Hollywood stardom. What catapulted Norma Jeane Mortenson to the height of fame, and what can we take from her continued iconic presence in our culture?

Robert Redford passed away last September at the age of 89. During his long life, he might have been remembered as an old school movie star, a celebrated director, or the founder of a major nonprofit that celebrates and promotes independent cinema–but he did all three with a grace and panache that will not easily be forgotten. Come celebrate his work before, behind, and beside the camera and remember the Sundance kid himself.

Teenagers as a modern concept arose around the same time as rock and roll and the drive in movie. We’ll look at how Hollywood capitalized on a teen sensation, who was watching and appearing in movies like Rock Around the Clock, and how rock and roll has been later addressed and assessed in biopics and nostalgia films.

Every culture has a tradition of stories of young lovers beating the odds. But how did Hollywood turn that basic storyline into the screwball comedy, the “meet cute,” and make the careers of actors from Cary Grant to Meg Ryan to Paul Rudd? Are they “just chick flicks,” or does “Much Ado About Nothing” prefigure the modern romance? Celebrate Valentine’s Day by getting a few recommendations and sharing your own!

From Tugboat Annie to Sleepless in Seattle to Fifty Shades of Grey, Seattle has a long history as a place to set a story, film a story, or even both! We’ll talk about the legacy Seattle has left on film, what it says about our city, what it leaves out, and share our favorites. Whether you’re a Fabulous Baker Boy, McQ, Elvis, or Lloyd Dobbler standing outside with a boombox, there’s something to discover about Seattle through the lens of how the rest of the world sees us.

What do Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, David Lynch, George Romero, and Martin Scorsese have in common? They were all part of the New Hollywood “movement” which had come up in film schools and raised on classic Hollywood cinema. We’ll look at the major players in this era and how, exactly, they changed Hollywood forever.

Starting with the original series in 1966, and continuing up to today’s Strange New Worlds, Star Trek on television and in cinema has shown us a future where we solve our earthly differences, meet and work with other species, and explore the stars. In this talk we’ll catch up on the series you might have missed and talk about the type of future they envision for us. How likely is that future, and what is science fiction’s role in showing us both the good and the bad possibilities? We’ll also talk about some of our favorite characters, moments, and scientific and cultural contributions directly related to this franchise which will turn 60 next year! 

Time travel has been a literary device since at least 1733, but film took the concept and ran with it. Why are movies so enamored of time travel as a plot device, what are some of the most popular time travel movies, and what do they tell us about the times we live in?

Lon Chaney’s The Phantom of the Opera just turned 100. This Halloween, we’ll look back at how Universal turned a couple of Victorian novels into a genre juggernaut and revisit the origins of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, and all their descendants. Why was this type of story so successful in the early 1930s? And why has their legacy continued?

For Women’s History Month, we look at the ways women have always been active in Hollywood, not just as stars but behind the camera as well. Learn the ways pioneers like Anita Loos, Mary Pickford, Dorothy Arzner, Ida Lupino, Edith Head, and Hedy Lamarr forged new paths for women and made lasting contributions, even when they were not always celebrated in the moment. And celebrate the way directors like Kathryn Bigelow, Chloé Zhao, Greta Gerwig, Celine Song, and Nia DaCosta are paving the way today.

From the beginning of film, producers and directors have sought the works of the past to inspire their own. At first glance that might seem obvious–a story is a story, and we’ve always had our favorites. But in this class we’ll look at the different ways books have made their way to the screen, both the reasons (popularity, financial incentives, established credibility, creative and interpretive opportunities) and the concerns (medium, time constraints, fidelity, audience interpretation, visual complexity).

What makes a “good” adaptation? Why are certain works adapted over and over? How do you translate words into image, sound, and movement? What’s the place of “fidelity” in moving a story from page to screen? And what are some of the most successful–and infamous–film adaptations of the written word?

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” But
what does that mean when it comes to what may be the most prolific fictional character on screen? What is the
truth of Sherlock Holmes? In this [three/four] week course we’ll get an overview of Holmes on film, delve into
the relative merits of each adaptation, and discuss the biggest question of all: Why is Holmes such an enduring
character? [This is a much more in depth version of the one hour lecture.]

Horror, as a genre, has often been dismissed as low brow, inexpensive, or sensationalist fare. But in spite, or perhaps because of, this dismissal, the history of horror is also a history of what we, as a
society, fear. In this class we’ll take a look at how our concerns have been mirrored by movies over time and what horror says about those fears.

Starting with its origins in Gothic fiction, we’ll trace modern horror from the silent era through the monster films of the 30s, the atomic era and the Red Scare of the 50s, and onward with madmen-next-door, environmental threats, technological innovations run amok, religious extremism, immigration, and other fears. And we’ll look at how vampires, zombies, ghosts, haunted houses, and all the other trappings of the genre have become flexible containers for what really scares us about The Other… and ourselves.

We all ‘know’ that the Beatles reshaped popular music in the 20th century, but their impact on fashion, film, politics, and popular culture is sometimes taken for granted. This course explores the
Beatles’ extraordinary journey from postwar Liverpool to worldwide stardom and a legacy that reaches to the present day. We’ll trace their evolution from early Beatlemania to the innovative studio years to the parting of the ways, considering how their work reflected—and transformed—the turbulent 1960s. Along the way, we’ll examine the social and historical forces that shaped their rise, their impact on youth and identity, and the ways their image and music continue to resonate today.

The course combines lecture, discussion, music and video clips, but it is not a technical music appreciation class. No prior musical knowledge is required—just curiosity about the phenomenon that
was, and is, the Beatles and the world they helped shape.