Below are descriptions for courses in the undergraduate concentration in Cinema and Media Studies (CMS). For further work in Cinema and Media Studies, students are also encouraged to investigate other courses taught by the resource faculty. Film screenings add three to four hours per week to class time for the majority of courses.

10100. Introduction to Film I (=ArtH 19000, COVA 25300, ENGL 10800, GSHU 20000):

This course introduces basic concepts of film analysis, which are discussed through examples from different national cinemas, genres, and directorial oeuvres. Along with questions of film technique and style, we consider the notion of the cinema as an institution that comprises an industrial system of production, social and aesthetic norms and codes, and particular modes of reception. Films discussed include works by Hitchcock, Porter, Griffith, Eisenstein, Lang, Renoir, Sternberg, and Welles. J. Lastra. Autumn.

20900. Queer Representation in Film before Stonewall (=CMST 30900, GNDR 22700/32700).

This course examines the representation of queer sexuality and culture in classical Hollywood films from silent film to 1970. The course will pay particular attention to the changing modes of Hollywood production, the impact of censorship before, during and after the Hays Code, the shifting codes used to connote queerness (even when it was prohibited) and the ways different audiences read these codes. We will analyze these representational shifts in relationship to broader changes in the understanding of gender and same-sex desire. Finally, Hollywood films will be compared to experimental film and early German cinema. R. Gregg. Autumn.

21300. Hollywood in the 21st Century.

This course examines how globalization and the emergence of new digital technologies have affected HollywoodÕs organization of production, distribution, and exhibition, as well as the aesthetics of film image, sound, and narration. The course also pays attention to the varying national and international modes of resistance to HollywoodÕs hegemony and how the industry has responded to these modern challenges. R. Gregg. Spring.

22900. New German Cinema. (=CMST 22900/32900, GRMN 24000/34800:

PQ: Advanced standing. Introduction to the poetics and politics of some of the major works of postwar German Cinema, including films by Wolfgang Staudte, Helma Sanders-Brahms, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Alexander Kluge, Wim Wenders, Michael Verhoeven, and Monika Treut. In English. All films with English subtitles. D. Levin Spring.

23800. The French Exception in Hollywood (=CMST 33800, FREN 22900/32900):

From the the veterans of the 10s (Maurice Tourneur, Louis Gasnier) until the "visiting auteurs" of the 70s (Louis Malle), we will study the difficult integration of the French filmmakers in the United States. We will mostly focus on the period of Word War II, with the exile of some leading artists of the thirties (RenŽ Clair, Jean Renoir, Julien Duvivier, Max Ophuls), in order to analyse how these filmmakers follow an "European dream" within the limits of the American industry. Staff. Spring.

24100. Film in India (=CMST 34100, ANTH 20600/31100, HIST 26700/36700, SALC 20500/30500):

Considers the film world from 1975 to the present. Most attention will be paid to the Hindi film and especially to its "peculiar" features, for example, the song and dance. Emphasis is placed on the reconstruction of film-related activities which can be taken as life practices from the stand point of "elites" and "masses," "middle classes," men and women, people in cities and villages, governmental institutions, businesses, and the "nation." The course will rely on people's notions of the everyday, festive days, paradise, arcadia and utopia to pose questions about how people try to realize their wishes and themselves through film. How film practices articulated with nationalism, first in the wake of a failing "socialist pattern of development," and, then, with "liberalization," of the promise or threat "free markets" would bring, will be the major concern. A brief look will also be taken at how film is related to other media such as television. Some comparisons with Hollywood will be made. Students will be asked to familiarize themselves with existing approaches to Indian film against the background of more general approaches to film and the media. Some knowledge of Hindi desirable but not required (films will be subtitled in English and have English synopses). One film per week will be shown. Requirement: One 10-page paper, written in two stages. R. Inden. Autumn.

24300. Religion and Modernity in Film (=CMST 34300, ANTH 21900/32400, HIST 26800/36800):

Considers the problem of how popular films in the US, Europe, and Asia have represented the conventional religions' relation to modernity: the idea of film practices ("youth culture") as constituting a secular religion alternative or antagonistic to the conventional religions and the recuperation and transformation of conventional religiosity in modernist, especially patriotic and science-fiction films as a national theology ("civil religion"). One to two films per week will be shown. Requirement: One 10-page paper, written in two stages. R. Inden. Winter.

24400. Polish Cinema Since 1945:

The course is designed to be a survey of Polish cinema since 1945 up to the present. We will consider Polish cinema in the context of both a national and a European cinema. Films will be examined from both a historical and an aesthetic perspective in order to present the main trends in post-war Polish cinema, for example: Socialist Realism, the Polish Film School and the Cinema of Moral Concern. This will lead into a discussion of the works of some of the most important Polish filmmakers (Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk, Roman Polanski, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Kieslowski and others). E. Nazarian. Winter.

24600. The Horrific and Terrible: The Technological Body of Japanese Cinema. (=CMST 24600/34600, JAPN 22100, GNDR 22200).

The course examines the cinematic and narrative presentation of gender, technology, and the body in popular Japanese cinema from 1923 to the present. While attention is naturally given to the political culture and popular motivations behind mid-century monster and horror films such as Godzilla or The Invisible Man and late-century anime/animation such as Neon Genesis Evangelion or Ghost in the Shell, the course pays equal attention to a study and theorization of machines and their humans in the context of heavy industry, wartime mobilization, and mass-produced consumer durables. Examination follows Marxist, feminist, and post-colonial perspectives. J. Hall. Autumn.

24700. Soviet Art and Film Culture of the 1920s. (=CMST 24700/34701, SLAV 26700/36700, ARTH 28100/38100).

This course will consider Soviet "montage cinema" of the twenties in the context of coeval aesthetic projects in other arts. How did EisensteinÕs theory and practice of "intellectual cinema" connect to Fernand Leger and Vladimir Tatlin? What did MeyerholdÕs "biomechanics" mean for film makers? Among other figures and issues, we will address Dziga Vertov and Constructivism, German Expressionism and Aleksandr Dovzhenko, Formalist poetics and FEKS directors. The course will be film-intensive (up to three hours of out-of-class viewings per week). Y. Tsivian. Winter.

24900. Japanese Film/National Cinema. (=CMST 24900/34900, JAPN 32200).

The course surveys Japanese cinema across the twentieth-century while interrogating assumptions of identity incumbent to both auteurist and national film studies traditions. Issues examined include the influence of kabuki and modernism on early cinema, the Japanese studio system as rival and complement to Hollywood production, cinema in Japan's colonial expansion and wartime, postwar social criticism, mid-century filmmaking of experimentation and resistance, and the recent vitality of independent film. Careful attention is paid to the 1930s, 1950s-60s, and 1990s as well as to directors such as Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse, Kurosawa, Masumura, Kitano, and Aoyama. Graduate students with reading skills in Japanese are asked to complete supplemental readings. J. Hall. Winter.

25800. Surrealism and the American Cinema. (=CMST 25800, ENGL 28400, ARTH 27000).

From the early 1920s on, both "official" and "unofficial" Surrealists have shaped film history in profound ways. In addition to a substantial body of films that might be identified as surrealist in their own right the Surrealists identified and promoted certain American films, filmmakers, and genres as packing a powerful surrealist punch regardless of their apparent ignorance of the movement. The aesthetic and moral agendas of Surrealism were decisively shaped by their encounter with American film, and in response, Surrealists helped set the agenda for film criticism and film theory to the present day. Taking American slapstick films as a starting point, this course will approach the Hollywood cinema as what Miriam Hansen has called a "Vernacular Modernism," in order to understand the dialectical relationship between mass culture and modernist art movements. In addition to Hollywood films, we will study the films of key American Surrealists including Joseph Cornell, Maya Deren, and Bruce Conner, and investigate how elements of the surreal persist in contemporary film. J. Lastra. Autumn.

26500. The Films of Max Ophüls (=CMST 36500, ENGL )

Max Ophüls has variously been discussed as master of the long take and mise-en-scene, of theatrical adaptation and self-conscious narration; as director of the "woman's film," of melodramatic pathos and irony; and as artist and analyst of erotic ö and cinematic -- obsession. Following the trajectory of his life and work from Germany through France, Italy, Hollywood, and back to Europe, we will consider Ophüls' films in terms of style and genre; the question of his gynocentric aesthetic and the feminist debate surrounding it; filmmaking and reception under the conditions of exile and industrial production. Films include Liebelei, La Signora di tutti, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Caught, The Reckless Moment, La Ronde, Madame de..., Le Plaisir, and Lola Montes. (M.A. students require permission of instructor.) M. Hansen. Winter

27500. Photo & Film: Theory/Practice. (=CMST 27500/37500, ARTH 27200/37200):

J. Snyder. Autumn.

27600. Beginning Photography (=CMST 37600, COVA 24000):

PQ: COVA 101, 102, or consent of instructor. A camera and light meter are required. Photography affords a relatively simple and accessible means for making pictures. Through demonstration, students are introduced to technical procedures and basic skills, and begin to establish criteria for artistic expression. Possibilities and limitations inherent in the medium are topics of classroom discussion. Class sessions and field trips to local exhibitions investigate the contemporary photograph in relation to its historical and social context. Course work culminates in a portfolio of works exemplary of the student's understanding of the medium. Lab fee $40. L. Letinsky, Autumn, Winter. L. Brown, Spring.

27700. Advanced Photography (=CMST 37700, COVA 27800):

PQ: COVA 101 or 102, and 240 or 241, or consent of instructor. Throughout the quarter, students concentrate on a set of issues and ideas that expand upon their experience and knowledge, and that have particular relevance to them. All course work is directed towards the production of a cohesive body of either color or black-and-white photographs. An investigation of contemporary and historic photographic issues informs the students' photographic practice and includes visits to local exhibitions, critical readings, darkroom techniques, and class and individual critiques. Lab fee $40. L. Letinsky. Winter.

27800. Theories of Media (=CMST 37800, ArtH 25800/35800, COVA 25400, ENGL 12600/32600):

This course explores the fundamental questions in the interdisciplinary study of visual culture: What are the cultural (and by the same token, natural) components in the structure of visual experience? What is seeing? What is a spectator? What is the difference between visual and verbal representation? How do visual media exert power, elicit desire and pleasure, and construct the boundaries of subjective and social experience in the private and public spheres? How do questions of politics, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity inflect the construction of visual semiosis? W. J. T. Mitchell. Winter.

28500. History of International Cinema, Part I, Silent Era (=CMST 48500, ArtH 28500/38500, ENGL 29300/48700, MAPH 33600):

PQ: This is the first part of a two-quarter course. The two parts may be taken individually, but taking them in sequence is helpful. The aim of this course is to introduce students to what was singular about the art and craft of silent film. Its general outline is chronological. We will discuss main national schools and international trends of filmmaking. Y. Tsivian. Autumn.

28600. History of International Cinema, Part II, Sound Era (=CMST 48600, ArtH 28600/38600, COVA 26500, Engl 29600/48900, MAPH 33700):

PQ: This is the second part of the international survey history of film covering the sound era up to 1960. It is strongly recommended that students take the first section first. The course will cover the period from the advent of sound (late 1920s) through the 1960s (the last decade of 'classical' film culture) regarded in conjunction with major trends in film theories of the time. Y. Tsivian. Winter.

28800. Digital Imaging (=CMST 28800, COVA 22500):Ê

PQ: COVA 10100 or 10200, or consent of instructor. Using the Macintosh platform this course serves as an introduction to the use of digital technology as a means of making visual art. Instruction will cover Photo Shop's graphics program as well as digital imaging hardware (scanners, storage, and printing). In addition we will be addressing problems of color, design, collage, and drawing. Topics of discussion may include questions regarding the mediated image and its relationship to art as well as examining what constitutes the "real" in contemporary culture.Ê Lab fee TBA. A. Ruttan, Autumn.

28900. Video I: Short Experiments. (=CMST 28900, COVA 23800,):

PQ: COVA 10100 or 10200, or CMST 10100. An introduction to video making, with digital cameras and non-linear (digital) editing. Students will produce a group of short works, which will be contextualized by viewing and discussion of historical and contemporary video works. Video versus film, editing strategies and appropriation are some of the subjects that will be part of an ongoing conversation.Ê Lab fee $60. H. Mirra. Autumn.

28901. Video II: Narrative. (=CMST 28901, COVA 23900).

PQ: COVA 23800. One or two tapes will be produced by each student, which will be looked at closely along the way in class critiques. Screenings of work by Chris Marker, Walid Ra'ad, Leslie Thornton, Gregg Bordowitz, Igor Vamos, Alex Rivera and others. Discussions and readings will address experimental documentary, fact/fiction/fictionalization, continuity, autobiography, writing for video, and sound recording techniques.Ê Lab fee $60. H. Mirra. Winter.

28902. Video III: Studio Techniques. (=CMST 28902, COVA 27500).

PQ: COVA 23800. A production course geared towards non-broadcast forms in video, including installation.ÊÊ We will be looking at relevant material, including recent work by Harrison & Wood, Fischli & Weiss, Martin Kersels, Jane & Louise Wilson, Halflifers, Douglas Gordon and others.Ê Discussions and readings will address rapidly changing technology, non-narrative strategies, and viable approaches to producing video art in a world already full of video images.Ê Lab fee $60. H. Mirra. Spring.

29200. Philosophy & Visual Culture. (=CMST 29200/39200, ARTH 26900/36900, PHIL 31000):

J. Snyder and J. Conant. Winter.

29700. Reading Course:

PQ: Consent of faculty adviser and Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. This course may be used to satisfy distribution requirements for Cinema and Media Studies concentrators. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

29800. Senior Colloquium

PQ: CMS 101. Required of all Cinema and Media Studies concentrators. This seminar is designed to provide senior concentrators with a sense of the variety of methods and approaches in the field (such as formal analysis, cultural history, industrial history, reception studies, psychoanalysis). Students will present material relating to their B.A. project, which will be discussed in relation to the issues of the course. J. Lastra. Autumn.

29900. B.A. Research Paper

PQ: Consent of instructor. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Form. This course may not be counted toward distribution requirements for the concentration, but may be counted as a free-elective credit. Staff. Autumn. Winter. Spring.