This course is designed for upper-division students in Film Studies, Technocultural Studies, English, American Studies, or any other discipline that includes the analysis and understanding of film as a medium. In class, we will analyze and discuss a number of classic and contemporary Hollywood films (which will be required viewing outside of class) and a selection of essays (including analyses of individual films, film theory, movie reviews, academic research papers).

The course is primarily a discussion and workshop course – not a lecture course – so students will often work together in small groups and present their ideas orally as well as in writing. Students will write papers of various kinds, including an analysis of film form, a critical analysis (employing genre, auteur, historical, ideological, or popular culture approaches), a research paper or script proposal, and a film review. We will discuss how to analyze the rhetorical situation of a given writing task; how to effectively use the terminology of film studies; how to plan, draft, and revise papers; and how to do research in film studies – including using specialized library databases.