Friendship Through Fiction and Film

Course Description

What does it mean to call someone a friend? How are friendships different from other types of relationships? This discussion-based literature and film course will explore these questions through a study of short stories, novels, and films that consider the meaning of friendship, including the films Thelma and Louise (1991), The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), and Frances Ha (2012). While philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists have long recognized the importance of friendship for human happiness, romantic partnerships and parent-child relationships often receive more attention as formative relationships in people’s lives than the bonds between friends. 

Through discussions of literature, film, and supplementary readings, we will consider questions such as: How do our friendships enrich and complicate who we are as individuals? How do people become friends, and why are some people better at making friends than others? What makes certain friendships last a lifetime and others fall apart? Why is the pain of losing a friend often less acknowledged than the pain of losing a partner or a family member? What are the ethics of ending a friendship? How does friendship offer alternatives to biological notions of family? And what would it mean for societies to recognize friendship, rather than marital or kinship bonds, as the defining relationships in people’s lives?

Books to purchase:

Ferrante, Elena. My Brilliant Friend (2011)

Matar, Hisham. My Friends (2024)

Nunez, Sigrid. The Friend (2018)

Course Details