Monsters, Mutants and Aliens in Literature and Pop Culture

This course explores literary and pop culture texts about the non-human to articulate ethical questions concerning beliefs about what it means to be human. Class materials explore the experiences of those generally seen to be outside humanity: monsters, mutants, and aliens. They include classic and contemporary novels such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Octavia Butler's gender-bending alien novel, Dawn, and modern television and film including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Alien, and The X-Men. Class discussion and written work will ask students to develop and defend their own broadly informed, nuanced, and thoughtful definition of what it means to be human.