Overview
LLCU 249, Latin Lovers: Love, Sex, and Popular Culture is designed for first and second year students from a wide range of academic backgrounds including languages, literatures, gender studies, film, cultural studies, music, philosophy, or anyone interested in Western culture in general.
The course explores the emergence, development, and criticism of the Latin Lover figure in the West, from the creation of the archetypical Don Juan in the seventeenth-century to contemporary Hollywood representations of Italian and Latin American “Latin lovers”. We will explore notions of masculinity and gender, race and class, and study how the multiple cultural representations of the Don Juan myth — both in literature and film— have preserved or challenged damaging stereotypes of Hispanic and Mediterranean men and women.
Students in the humanities may register for this course as an elective or as part of their major, medial or minor programs in LLCU.
Learning Outcomes
After completing LLCU 249, students will be able to:
- Describe the cultural evolution of the Don Juan figure from the archetypical seventeenth century "Trickster of Seville" to contemporary renderings in Italian and Hispanic cinema.
- Reference several appropriations of the Don Juan myth by Moliere, Da Ponte and Mozart, E.T.A Hoffman, Zorrilla, and George Bernard Shaw, among others.
- Illustrate the emergence of the Latin Lover imagery.
- Analyze the relationship between the Don Juan/Latin Lover figure and challenging notions of masculinity in the Western world.
- Explain the problematic sexual politics that shape the Don Juan/Latin Lover narratives.
- Apply cultural and aesthetic critiques to challenge the myth of Don Juan, both in literature and film.
- Evaluate the ways in which notions of class, race, and gender define the multiple interpretations of the Don Juan/Latin Lover characters.