The only student requirement? BRAAAAAIIIINNNNNSSSSS! 

The University of Baltimore’s latest course offering: English 333, a study of zombies in popular culture, aims to use the venerable movie monster to explore modern society.  The class is taught by professor Arnold Blumberg, also a curator at the Geppi Entertainment Museum.

Students will watch 16 classic zombie movies, read zombie comics and as a final project, write scripts or draw storyboards for their own zombie projects. It’s all part of the School of Communications Design’s Pop Culture minor.

Zombies have seen a resurgence of late, as a storytelling device and cultural commentary (see: the popularity of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). Blumberg’s course may be splattered with blood and guts on the surface, but it will also get students talking about how sociology, literature and mass media reflect modern times and anxieties.

Baltimore’s not the first school to teach Walking Dead 101. Columbia College in Chicago has offered Zombies in Popular Media for years, and Iowa’s Simpson College students collaborated on a book on “The History of the Great Zombie War.”

What unconventional courses does your school offer? Let us know in the comments section.

Tags: pop culture, University of Baltimore, zombies