“Direct Tenderness” Haynes on Fassbinder and Sirk

Initially focused on the concept of paradigms in the work of Benjamin, Foucault, and Agamben, subsequent semesters of Dr. Thomas’ Thought and Image  featured a variety of texts, concepts, and works of expression. The course remains anchored by the work of Todd Haynes, Ranier Werner Fassbinder, and Douglas Sirk. Conceptualized as a course about “The Power of the Image” (which includes power as potentiality), Haynes’ alternate title for Far From Heaven, “The Surface of Things,” has served as an apt descriptor for the class.