Play or Be Played

Heists, Games, and The Art of Social Warfare

Term 2 is short and sweet. We only have seven weeks, so let the games begin! If you want to print out the syllabus, see the PDF attached.

Course Description

This course is a deep dive into the ways we are forced to play games in our everyday lives. While some of the course materials will take you right into the action of a big match or see you skate alongside Olympic hopefuls, others are less obvious. These games are concealed, shadowed. These are the games that are played behind the scenes of life. The scope of modern social welfare is vast, encompassing a range of behaviors—from those who deceive others on dating apps to individuals who steal simply to prove they can. Others simply want to break free from the rules of a game they never asked to play in the first place. 

Play or Be Played will be divided into five modules: Rage Against the Machine, Lifting the Virtuoso’s Veil, What’s Yours is Mine, Check Mate, and Don’t Hate the Player.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify the systems of society that force us to play by invisible rules.

• Identify the games that are rigged from the beginning and how we might be able to counter those systems to create a fairer playing field.

• Analyze the ways in which you play games in your own emotional life. 

• Distinguish the traits that make a great athlete both on and of the metaphorical court.

• Know when you’re playing a losing game. 

• Identify the instances in which it is appropriate to cheat or bend the rules to work for the greater good.

Texts and Materials

Literature

Alderton, Dolly. Good Material. Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.

Choderlos de Laclos, Pierre. Dangerous Liaisons. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Cline, Emma. The Guest. Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.

Crosley, Sloane. Cult Classic. MCD, 2022.

Despentes, Virginie. Dear Dickhead. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2024.

Everett, Percival. James. Doubleday, 2022.

Finkel, Michael. Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession. Knopf, 2023.

Haight, Abby and Vader, J.E. Fire on Ice: The Exclusive Inside Story of Tonya Harding. Crown, 2023.

Koller Croft, Rachel. Stone Cold Fox. Berkeley, 2023.

Ryan, Kennedy. Long Shot. Bloom Books, 2023.

Li, Grace D. Portrait of a Thief. Tiny Reparations Books, 2022.

Rio. M.L. If We Were Villains. Flatiron Books, 2017.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2004.

Tartt, Donna. The Goldfinch. Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

Tulathimutte, Tony. Rejection. William Morrow, 2024.

Zevin, Gabrielle. Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow. Knopf, 2022.

Whitfield, Orlando. All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art. Pantheon, 2024.

Essays

Rees, Amanda. "They Used to Award Olympic Medals for Art." Wired, 8 Nov. 2023, www.wired.com/story/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-essay/.

Tresadern, Molly. “Love, Jealousy, Deceit: Exploring Shakespeare’s Othello in Art.” Art UK, 14 Oct. 2021, www.artuk.org/discover/stories/love-jealousy-deceit-exploring-shakespeares-othello-in-art. Accessed 9 Nov. 2024.

TV/Film

Catch Me If You Can. Directed by Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Pictures, 2002.

Challengers. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Amazon MGM Studios, 2024.

Cruel Intentions. Directed by Roger Kumble, Columbia Pictures, 1999.

Gone Girl. Directed by David Fincher, 20th Century Fox, 2014.

"The Wrath of Con." Gossip Girl. Season 2, episode 23, produced by Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage. Warner Bros. Television, 2009.

How to Steal a Million. Directed by William Wyler, 20th Century Fox, 1953.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Directed by Donald Petrie, Paramount Pictures, 2003.

I, Tonya. Directed by Craig Gillespie, 2017.

Ocean's 8. Directed by Gary Ross, Warner Bros, 2018.

Ocean's Eleven. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Warner Bros, 2001.

She’s the Man. Directed by Andy Fickman, Paramount Pictures, 2006.

The Prestige. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Touchstone Pictures, 2006.

The Queen's Gambit. Created by Scott Frank, Netflix, 2020.

The Talented Mr. Ripley. Directed by Anthony Minghella, Paramount Pictures, 1999.

The Traitors. Season 2, produced by Studio Lambert and Motion Content Group, Peacock, 2024.

The Worst Person in the World. Directed by Joachim Trier, Oslo Pictures, 2021.

This Is A Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist. Netflix, 2021.

V for Vendetta. Directed by James McTeigue, Warner Bros, 2005.

Music and Podcast

The All-American Rejects. Dirty Little Secret. Move Along, Interscope Records, 2005.

Bastille. Send Them Off!, Virgin EMI, 2016.

Bieber, Justin, and Sean Kingston. Eenie Meenie, Island, 2010.

Bridgers, Phoebe. Killer, Dead Oceans, 2021.

Del Rey, Lana. Video Games, Interscope, 2011.

Grande, Ariana. successful, Sweetener, Republic Records, 2018.

Holmes, David. Ruben's In. Ocean's Eleven (Music from the Motion Picture), Warner Records, 2001.

Love, Darlene. Run Run Runaway, Philles, 1963.

Lorde. Glory & Gore, Universal Music, 2013.

Minaj, Nicki. Chun-Li, Young Money, 2018.

Parcels. Gamesofluck, Because Music, 2018.

Reznor, Trent, and Atticus Ross. Challengers, Columbia, 2020.

Stevens, Sufjan. Tonya Harding (in Eb Major), Asthmatic Kitty, 2018.

Spears, Britney. Oops!... I Did It Again,  Jive Records, 2000.

Swift, Taylor. Mastermind. Republic Records, 2022.

Art

Andrews, Ambrose. The Children of Nathan Starr. 1835, on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

De Garis Davies, Nina. Queen Nefertari Playing Senet. New Kingdom, Ramesside, ca. 1279–1213 B.C., on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Edgerton, Harold. Stroboscopic Study of Man Hitting Tennis Ball. 1949, on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jean Siméon Chardin, The House of Cards, probably 1737, on display at the National Galley of Art.

Course Schedule

11.17 - Week One: Rage Against the Machine

Readings:

• Cline, Emma. The Guest. Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.

• Everett, Percival. James. Doubleday, 2022.

• Koller Croft, Rachel. Stone Cold Fox. Berkeley, 2023.

Viewings:

• Gone Girl. Directed by David Fincher, 20th Century Fox, 2014.

Supplementary Materials:

• Catch Me If You Can. Directed by Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Pictures, 2002.

• "The Wrath of Con." Gossip Girl. Season 2, episode 23, produced by Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage. Warner Bros. Television, 2009.

• V for Vendetta. Directed by James McTeigue, Warner Bros, 2005.

11.24 - Week Two: Lifting the Virtuoso’s Veil

Readings:

• Rio. M.L. If We Were Villains. Flatiron Books, 2017.

• Tartt, Donna. The Goldfinch. Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

• Shakespeare, William. Othello. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2004.

Supplementary Materials: 

• Bastille. Send Them Off!, Virgin EMI, 2016.

• Grande, Ariana. “successful.” Sweetener, Republic Records, 2018.

• The Prestige.  Directed by Christopher Nolan, Touchstone Pictures, 2006.

• The Talented Mr. Ripley. Directed by Anthony Minghella, Paramount Pictures, 1999.

•  Tresadern, Molly. “Love, Jealousy, Deceit: Exploring Shakespeare’s Othello in Art.” Art UK, 14 Oct. 2021,  www.artuk.org/discover/stories/love-jealousy-deceit-exploring-shakespeares-othello-in-art. Accessed 9 Nov. 2024.

12.8- Week Three: What’s Yours is Mine

Readings:

• Li, Grace D. Portrait of a Thief. Tiny Reparations Books, 2022.

• Whitfield, Orlando. All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art. Pantheon, 2024.

Supplementary Materials:

• Holmes, David. “Ruben's In.” Ocean's Eleven (Music from the Motion Picture), Warner Records, 2001.

• How to Steal a Million. Directed by William Wyler, 20th Century Fox, 1953.

• Finkel, Michael. Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession. Knopf, 2023.

• Ocean's 8. Directed by Gary Ross, Warner Bros, 2018.

• Ocean's Eleven. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Warner Bros, 2001.

12.15 - Week Four: Check Mate

Readings:

• Alderton, Dolly. Good Material. Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.

• Choderlos de Laclos, Pierre. Dangerous Liaisons. Penguin Classics, 2003.

Viewings:  

• Cruel Intentions. Directed by Roger Kumble, Columbia Pictures, 1999.

Supplementary Materials:

• Crosley, Sloane. Cult Classic. MCD, 2022.

• Despentes, Virginie. Dear Dickhead. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2024.

• How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Directed by Donald Petrie, Paramount Pictures, 2003.

• She’s the Man. Directed by Andy Fickman, Paramount Pictures, 2006.

• Spears, Britney. “Oops!... I Did It Again.” Jive Records, 2000.

•  Swift, Taylor. Mastermind. Republic Records, 2022.

• The Worst Person in the World. Directed by Joachim Trier, Oslo Pictures, 2021.

• Tulathimutte, Tony. Rejection. William Morrow, 2024.

• The All-American Rejects. “Dirty Little Secret.” Move Along, Interscope Records, 2005.

12.22 – Week Five: Don’t Hate the Player

Readings:

• Haight, Abby and Vader, J.E. Fire on Ice: The Exclusive Inside Story of Tonya Harding. Crown, 2023.

• Zevin, Gabrielle. Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow. Knopf, 2022.   

Supplementary Materials:

• Challengers. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Amazon MGM Studios, 2024.

• Edgerton, Harold. Stroboscopic Study of Man Hitting Tennis Ball. 1949, on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• I, Tonya. Directed by Craig Gillespie, 2017.

• Minaj, Nicki. Chun-Li, Young Money, 2018.

• The Queen's Gambit. Created by Scott Frank, Netflix, 2020.

•  Wallace, David Foster. String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis. Library of America, 2016.

Lit Girl 102 Play Or Be Played Syllabus

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