Film Studies

Introduction to the art, technology, and language of film. Students will learn basic cinematic techniques and structures, the fundamentals of film production, and an overview of cinematic history.

Focuses on a single topic and examines how film has been used to create different stles of narrative. The topics vary and may include such courses as Shakespeare on Film, Studies in Detective Fiction, Jane Austen on Film, Ecocinema, and the Hollywood Musical.

An intermediate course in film studies, grounding students in major approaches to film theory and criticism (e.g., psychoanalysis, gender studies, cultural studies) and emphasizing the structure of film as narrative art. The class will reinforce the language of cinematography, editing, sound, performance, and genre.

The special topics seminars invite students to engage in an intensive study of a particular theme, historical moment, author or interdisciplinary topic. Drawn from American, British or European traditions, courses might include Writing and the Environment or Existentialism and Literature. Students may take multiple seminar topics under this course number.

This course focuses on the rich cultural heritage of the "Seventh Art" in France, reviewing the history of the form and its artistic periods as well as the elements which distinguish different styles. Films, readings, lectures, class discussions and research writing in French will build strong cultural and communicative skills.

The role of African-Americans in cinematic films has varied widely, ranging from "brutal savages" in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation to dynamic and powerful leaders as seen in Spike Lee's Malcolm X. This course explores the African-American experience through the cultural medium of cinema. Particular emphasis will be placed on examining how Hollywood represented African-Americans and thereby reinforced, shaped and altered public perceptions of race and the role of blacks in society. The course will also investigate how historical developments in turn influenced the depiction of African-Americans in film, examining the modern Civil Rights struggle within the context of the film industry. 3 credits.

The main goal of this course is to explore different areas of psychology through film. We will evaluate the accuracy of the ways in which psychology is depicted in the movies by comparing it to actual psychological research. We consider a variety of psychological processes-motivation, personality, sensation, perception, memory, intelligence, moral decision-making, learning, stress, love, obedience, psychopathology, therapy, and so on-and use classic and contemporary feature films as a laboratory to shed light on those processes.

This course takes an historical approach to the depiction of various manifestations of "intelligence" in film, spanning over eight decades of filmmaking in different countries.

Film has become the dominant medium of popular cultural expression in the contemporary era, and as such offers a vital space where the re-contextualization and re-interpretation of religious themes can be studied. Understanding the use and presence of religious ideas and symbols in film allows perspective on how traditional religious themes are imagined and challenged through contemporary experience.