The Winona State University CLASP Lecture Series will host “Screening ‘American Sniper’ on the 21st Century College Campus” with J Paul Johnson at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in Stark Auditorium 103. The event is part of the 2015-16 University Theme, Equity as a Human Right: Building Inclusive Community.
Johnson will speak about the protests and cancellations of numerous scheduled college campus screenings of Clint Eastwood’s acclaimed war biopic “American Sniper.” Muslim and other student groups protested the film’s representation of Iraqi soldiers and citizens. Johnson will locate these protests in a historical context, examine the film’s narrative strategies, and advocate for those who have been misrepresented by its depiction of non-Americans as “savages.”
Johnson is an English and Film Studies professor at WSU, where he also serves as chairperson of the Mass Communication Department. Johnson is currently researching the intersections of genre identification, reception and representation in film studies. Johnson has published books and articles on composition and rhetoric, and presented at national and international conferences on film and literature.
This event is part of WSU’s 2015-16 University Theme, Equity as a Human Right: Building Inclusive Community. Equity as a Human Right is about upholding people’s rights, valuing diversity, challenging intolerance, and making institutional change around issues of social justice. For WSU and its communities, partnering around a university theme has proven to be an effective strategy for bringing faculty, staff, students, and community members to the engagement table. The year-long focus will enable students, faculty, staff, and members of the wider Winona and Rochester communities to explore the intersections of identities, cultures, and abilities.
This event is free and open to the public and is available for stream via ITV in UCR ST 116 on the Rochester campus.
For more information, contact David Speetzen at DSpeetzen@winona.edu.
