Critical Encounters: A Pedagogical Model for Reimagining Great Books and Film, Social Justice, and Theory for the Writing Portfolio
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
Contrary to assumptions that theory constrains creativity, the findings suggest that theoretical frameworks function as generative engines for advanced creative and critical work in the upper-division course CRWR 450: Form and Theory. Students engage masterworks, or "Great Books and Film," through self-selected theoretical lenses—such as feminist theory, masculinity studies, race and transnationalism, colonial and imperial critique, and postmodernism—using these frameworks to explore pressing social justice concerns in their research papers and final oral presentations. Alongside this critical work, students draw from key theoretical passages to inspire original poems, prose, and scripts for stage and screen, creating a sustained dialogue between analysis and artistic expression. This integrated approach reveals that theory sharpens interpretive precision while simultaneously expanding formal experimentation and authorial voice. Creative work grounded in critical frameworks demonstrates increased conceptual depth, intertextual awareness, and rhetorical sophistication across media. By positioning students as both scholars and makers, the course reframes research as an imaginative, generative act. The study contributes to scholarship in creative writing and film pedagogy by advancing a model in which theory and creative practice operate as mutually reinforcing modes of inquiry, producing intellectually rigorous and formally innovative student work.
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Leslie Kreiner Wilson
Location
Black Family Plaza Classroom 189
Start Date
10-4-2026 3:30 PM
End Date
10-4-2026 3:45 PM
Critical Encounters: A Pedagogical Model for Reimagining Great Books and Film, Social Justice, and Theory for the Writing Portfolio
Black Family Plaza Classroom 189
Contrary to assumptions that theory constrains creativity, the findings suggest that theoretical frameworks function as generative engines for advanced creative and critical work in the upper-division course CRWR 450: Form and Theory. Students engage masterworks, or "Great Books and Film," through self-selected theoretical lenses—such as feminist theory, masculinity studies, race and transnationalism, colonial and imperial critique, and postmodernism—using these frameworks to explore pressing social justice concerns in their research papers and final oral presentations. Alongside this critical work, students draw from key theoretical passages to inspire original poems, prose, and scripts for stage and screen, creating a sustained dialogue between analysis and artistic expression. This integrated approach reveals that theory sharpens interpretive precision while simultaneously expanding formal experimentation and authorial voice. Creative work grounded in critical frameworks demonstrates increased conceptual depth, intertextual awareness, and rhetorical sophistication across media. By positioning students as both scholars and makers, the course reframes research as an imaginative, generative act. The study contributes to scholarship in creative writing and film pedagogy by advancing a model in which theory and creative practice operate as mutually reinforcing modes of inquiry, producing intellectually rigorous and formally innovative student work.