Weird and wonderful City Lit

The name Disney is synonymous with the story of American animation. In this course, we will learn about the history of the Disney Animation Studio during the lifecycle of its founder, Walt Disney. We will explore the origins of the studio within the context of early American animation, and discuss key films from its ‘classic’ era of production, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940) and Bambi (1942).







Dr Alexander Sergeant is an award-winning film historian and theorist. His varied research interests include the history of popular culture, particularly within the US, and the intersection between film and philosophy. He is the author of Encountering the Impossible: The Fantastic in Hollywood Fantasy Cinema (2021), and co-editor ofFantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums & Genres (2018). He is the co-founder of the popular website Fantasy-Animation.org and co-host of the Fantasy/Animation podcast.

Compare and contrast the afterlife beliefs of the five major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Explore how these ideas developed and influenced each other.

Do we perceive time or the passage of events? Einstein famously considered time – or the distinction between past, present, and future – as an illusion. We examine subjective time or how we experience time, discussing the roles of memory, emotion, and narrative.

The British isles were once covered in temperate rainforests. Join Chantal Woodrun to discover these landscapes and what still remains of them.

Join our Global History Friday Late session to explore the history of chocolate from its origins in the Americas to its widespread consumption as a global commodity in the modern period.

Do parallel universes exist? We will see how modern physics does not rule out this possibility and how some theories and observations may even imply that our universe is just one of many.