The new major in Cinema and Digital Media is now open, as of
Fall 2015.
Students who wish to declare will be majoring in
Cinema and Digital Media from now on. See
complete details about the new major here, including the major
checklist PDF, which lists all courses in the new
major. Cinema and Digital Media courses are currently
designated with the letters CTS. Also please see TCS and
FMS courses
for additional course descriptions.
Survey of films based on works of Japanese literature,
emphasis on pre-modern and early modern texts. Introduction to
major directors of Japan, with a focus on cinematic adaptation.
Lectures and readings in English. Films in Japanese with English
subtitles. (Same course as Japanese 156.) Offered in alternate
years.
Critical and theoretical approaches to the emergence of new
technologies since the invention of photography. Examine various
approaches to media (formalist, semiotic, structuralist,
Frankfurt School, cybernetics, visual and gamer theory).
Study of the ubiquitous presence of CCTV, face recognition
software, global tracking systems, biosensors, and data mining
practices that have made surveillance part of our daily life.
Study boundaries between security and control, information and
spying.
Rather than treat “videogames and culture” as two distinct
categories that play off one another, in this course we will
examine the community histories and material practices that have
evolved alongside videogames as a mass medium, cultural
commodity, and digital technology.
Lecture—2 hours; discussion—1 hour; film viewing—3 hours.
Analysis of film form and narrative, including cinematography,
editing, and sound. Issues in film studies, including authorship,
stardom, race, gender, class, and cultural identity. Includes
introduction to selected cinematic movements and national film
traditions. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt | AH, OL, VL, WC, WE.
History of representations of vampires and horror generally from
the 19th through 21st centuries. Emphasis on transnational
history of the horror genre; psychologies of horror effects;
issues of race, gender, and class; intersections with prejudice,
medicine, modernity. (Same course as German 45.)
Prerequisite: course 1. Exploration of representations of
Italian-American identity in American (U.S.) cinema. Analysis of
both Hollywood and independently produced films, especially as
they represent ethnicity, gender, and social class of Italian
Americans.
Prerequisite: course 1 and upper-division standing, or consent of
instructor. Italian cinema of the 21st century in the context of
profound cultural and social changes in Italy since World War II.
Productions by representative directors such as Amelio, Giordana,
Moretti, Muccino are included. Knowledge of Italian not required.
Lecture—3 hours; film viewing—3 hours. Prerequisite: course 1.
Study of an
aspect of American film history (such as the silent era; the
studio system; U.S. avant-garde cinema), including the influences
of technological, economic, regulatory, cultural, and artistic
forces. Not open for credit to students who have completed
Humanities 124 unless topic differs. May be repeated two times
for credit if topic differs. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt | ACGH, AH,
DD, OL, VL, WE.
Prerequisite: course 1. A study of one or more of the film genres
(such as the documentary, the musical, film noir, screwball
comedy, or the western), including genre theory and the
relationship of the genre(s) to culture, history, and film
industry practices. May be repeated two times for credit if topic
differs.
Prerequisite: course 1 or consent of instructor. Survey of the
conceptual frameworks used to study film (including semiotics,
psychoanalysis, spectatorship, auteur, genre and narrative
theories). Historical survey of major film theorists.
History of Russian film; film and social revolution, the cult of
Stalin, dissident visions; film and the collapse of the Soviet
empire; gender and the nation in Russian film. Course taught in
English; films are in Russian with English subtitles.
German filmmakers of the 1960s-1980s such as Fassbinder, Herzog,
Syberberg, Brückner, Schlöndorf, Kluge, Wenders. Knowledge of
German not required. May be repeated for credit with consent of
instructor.
Weimar Cinema – the diverse film culture of 1920s Germany – gave
birth or early impetus to some of the most important film genres
for global cinema, including horror, film noir, science fiction,
and melodrama. The course will chart how it was within the
context of Weimar Germany and, above all, its uneasy
confrontation with modernity and modernization that the horror
film, film noir, science-fiction film, and the melodrama all
emerged.
Lecture/discussion—3 hours; film viewing—3 hours. Prerequisite:
course 1, upper division standing, or consent of instructor.
Group study of a special topic in film, focusing on a national
tradition, a major filmmaker, or a specific era. May be repeated
three times for credit. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt | AH,
OL, VL, WE. —F, S. (F, S.) Clover, Constable, Fisher,
Heyer-Caput, Lu, Simmon, Smoodin
Variable—1-5 hours; independent study—3-15 hours. Prerequisite:
senior standing; GPA of at least 3.500; consent of instructor.
Guided research on a topic in Film Studies in preparation for the
writing of an honors thesis in course 195H or the creation of an
honors project in course 196H. May be repeated two times for
credit. (P/NP grading only.)—I, II, III. (I, II, III.)
