Film Studies
Students may complete a minor in Film Studies.
Steering Committee
Timothy Harte, Department of Russian
Jennifer Horne, Department of English
Homay King, Department of History of Art, Director
Imke Meyer, Department of German
Katherine Rowe, Department of English
Lisa Saltzman, Department of History of Art
Michael Tratner, Department of English
Sharon Ullman, Department of History
Film studies is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry bringing a range of analytical methods to bear upon films, film audiences and the social and industrial contexts of film production, promotion and consumption. The courses that comprise the minor in Film Studies reflect the diversity of approaches in the academic study of cinema. The minor is anchored by core courses in formal analysis, history and theory. Elective courses in particular film styles, directors, national cinemas, genres, areas of theory and criticism, and issues in film culture add both breadth and depth to this program of study.
Currently, film studies is a Bryn Mawr College minor: students must take a majority of courses on the Bryn Mawr campus. Minors are, however, encouraged to consider courses offered in the Tri-College consortium and at the University of Pennsylvania. Students should consult the director of the Film Studies Program before they declare the film studies minor to ensure that their course selections will be approved.
Minor Requirements
In consultation with the program director, students design a program of study that includes a range of film genres, styles, national cinemas, eras and disciplinary and methodological approaches. The minor consists of a total of six courses and must include the following:
- One introductory course in the formal analysis of film (e.g., ENGL/HART 205 Introduction to Film Studies; ENGL/HART 299 Introduction to Narrative Cinema)
- One course in film history or an area of film history (e.g., ENGL/HART 238 Film History; RUSS 110 Soviet and East European Cinema of the 1960s:War, Politics and Gender, ENGL/HART 317 Exhibition and Inhibition)
- One course in film theory or an area of film theory (e.g., ENGL/HART 306 Film Theory; ENGL/HART 349 Theories of Authorship in Cinema; ENGL/HART 327 Feminist Film Theory and Practice)
- Three electives.
At least one of the six courses must be at the 300 level. Courses that fall into two or more of the above categories may fulfill the requirement of the student's choosing, but may not fulfill more than one requirement simultaneously. Final approval is at the discretion of the coordinator of the Film Studies Program.
Film studies courses currently offered at Bryn Mawr include:
ENGL B205 Introduction to Film Studies
ENGL B238 Film History: Silent Cinema
ENGL B324 Shakespeare and Film
ENGL B329 Screen Melodrama
GERM B223 Topics in German Cultural Studies: Global Masculinity: Male Body in Contemporary Cinema
GERM B245 Interdisciplinary Approaches to German Literature and Culture: Nation and Identity in Post-War Austrian Literature
GERM B320 No Place Like Home: Nostalgia in German and American Literature and Film
HART B110 Identification in the Cinema
HART B276 Topics in Contemporary Art: Video Art
HART B299 History of Narrative Film
HART B334 Topics in Film Studies: Orientalism and Cinema
HIST B227 American Attractions
RUSS B365 Russian/Soviet Film
RUSS B110 Soviet and East European Cinema |
