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This is part one of a two-part course that explores Los Angeles—as mythic landscape, dream factory, nexus of cultural imaginary and historical reality—through both critical study and experiential fieldwork in the city itself. In the spring (open to FMS majors and minors), we will examine a selection of films across six decades that prominently feature LA as a cultural and historical construct. We’ll consider how the films utilize the city’s unique architectural spaces, its built environment, its racial and ethnic politics, and its proximity to an “unruly” natural world to shape narrative structure and aesthetics. Most importantly, we’ll examine LA’s relationship to Hollywood as the world capital of filmmaking—and of mythmaking. During the spring semester, students will engage in close analysis of the films and study selected readings, completing a series of written and oral assignments and preparing an independent project to be completed post-semester in Los Angeles. During the post-semester faculty-led Experiential Research Lab, students will travel to Los Angeles to complete their short projects under the mentorship of the faculty director. The independent work may be a creative or research project of their own choosing—a short film or screenplay, a creative or scholarly essay or oral project—that engages with a particular aspect of the city in the manner of the work we conduct in the spring. Students who choose the spring course must take the experiential research lab in Los Angeles. The Experiential Research Lab will feature field trips with JHU faculty to film sites, screening events, film archives, and other Los Angeles landmarks; and workshops on screenwriting, producing, and directing with JHU alumni. A networking event with alumni—including directors, writers, producers, and other creatives—will be a feature of the second week of the session, and alumni will be available for consultation, mentorship, and networking opportunities throughout the course.