This five-week course explores the work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the legendary German director, as part of this semester's auteur series. We will explore the Fassbinder canon in this course through multiple academic disciplines, such as Gender Studies, Film Studies, Film Theory, Formalist Film Theory, and Cultural Studies. Students will discuss and deconstruct narrative elements and the social context of these films, while paying particular attention to filmic elements such as mise en scene, cinematography, editing and sound design. The following films from the Fassbinder canon may be discussed in the course: "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul", "The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant", "The Marriage of Maria Braun", "Lili Marleen", and "Lola".