Provides groundwork for further study in the discipline and is
recommended before taking additional FMST courses. Introduces students
to concepts, theories, and histories of film and other moving-image
media, treating cinema as a dominant representational system that
shapes other media forms. Topics include the formal analysis of image
and sound, aesthetics, historiography, genres, authorship, issues of
gender, race, ethnicity, and nation, economics, technology, and
reception and audience studies. Emphasis is on developing writing,
analytical, and research skills. Required weekly evening screenings of
works from diverse periods, countries, and traditions.
1 credit.
Fall 2012. Rehak. Fall 2013. Simon.
Tri-College Courses
CURRENT COURSE OFFERINGS
Bryn Mawr Schedule | Bryn Mawr Descriptions
Swarthmore Schedule | Swarthmore Descriptions
University of Pennsylvania Cinema Studies
This page displays the schedule of Bryn Mawr courses in this department for this academic year. It also displays descriptions of courses offered by the department during the last four academic years.
For information about courses offered by other Bryn Mawr departments and programs or about courses offered by Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges, please consult the Course Guides page.
For information about the Academic Calendar, including the dates of first and second quarter courses, please visit the College's master calendar.
Students must choose a major subject and may choose a minor subject. Students may also select from one of seven concentrations, which are offered to enhance a student's work in the major or minor and to focus work on a specific area of interest.
Concentrations are an intentional cluster of courses already offered by various academic departments or through general programs. These courses may also be cross-listed in several academic departments. Therefore, when registering for a course that counts toward a concentration, a student should register for the course listed in her major or minor department. If the concentration course is not listed in her major or minor department, the student may enroll in any listing of that course.
Spring 2013
| COURSE | TITLE | SCHEDULE/ UNITS |
MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EAST B315-001 | Spirits, Saints, Snakes, Swords: Women in East Asian Literature & Film | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM MW | Bettws Y Coed 127 | Kwa,S. |
| LEC: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM T | |||||
| ENGL B205-001 | Introduction to Film | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM MW | Carpenter Library 25 | Nguyen,H. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM SU | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| ENGL B323-001 | Movies, Fascism, and Communism | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:15 AM-12:45 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 15 | Tratner,M. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM M | Carpenter Library 21 | ||||
| ENGL B334-001 | Topics in Film Studies: Curating Film: Festivals, Nationalism and Revoluti | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 12:00 PM- 2:00 PM TH | Carpenter Library 13 | Rastegar,R. |
| ENGL B336-001 | Topics in Film: Found Footage Film | Semester / 1 | LEC: 10:00 AM-11:30 AM MW | Dalton Hall 212A | Nguyen,H. |
| Film: 4:00 PM- 7:00 PM SU | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| GERM B320-001 | Topics in German Literature and Culture: Germ Literary Culture in Exile | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:00 PM- 4:00 PM TH | Taylor Hall, Seminar Room | Seyhan,A. |
| GNST B302-001 | Topics in Video Production: Experimental Animation | Semester / 1 | LEC: 12:00 PM- 4:00 PM TH | Canaday Media Lab (A9) | Cho,E. |
| Screening: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM T | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| HART B205-001 | Introduction to Film | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM MW | Carpenter Library 25 | Nguyen,H. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM SU | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| HART B306-001 | Film Theory | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:00 PM- 3:30 PM F | Carpenter Library 25 | Levine,S. |
| Screening: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM W | Carpenter Library 21 | ||||
| HART B334-001 | Topics in Film Studies: Curating Film: Festivals, Nationalism and Revoluti | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 12:00 PM- 2:00 PM TH | Carpenter Library 13 | Rastegar,R. |
| Screening: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM TH | Carpenter Library 21 | ||||
| HART B336-001 | Topics in Film: Found Footage Film | Semester / 1 | LEC: 10:00 AM-11:30 AM MW | Dalton Hall 212A | Nguyen,H. |
| Film: 4:00 PM- 7:00 PM SU | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| ITAL B225-001 | Italian Cinema and Literary Adaptation | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:30 PM- 4:00 PM MW | Carpenter Library 25 | Ricci,R. |
| LEC: 6:00 PM- 8:00 PM SU | Carpenter Library 25 | ||||
| RUSS B258-001 | Soviet and Eastern European Cinema of the 1960s | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:15 AM-12:45 PM TTH | Taylor Hall C | Harte,T. |
| Screening: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM M | Taylor Hall C | ||||
Fall 2013
| COURSE | TITLE | SCHEDULE/ UNITS |
MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARTW B266-001 | Screenwriting | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:00 PM- 4:00 PM F | English House I | Doyne,N., Torday,D. |
| COML B238-001 | Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945: Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia&Beyond | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:45 AM-11:15 AM TTH | Taylor Hall E | Harte,T. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM M | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| EAST B212-001 | Introduction to Chinese Literature: The Films of Wong Karwai | Semester / 1 | LEC: 12:45 PM- 2:15 PM TTH | Thomas Hall 251 | Kwa,S. |
| Screening: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM W | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| ENGL B238-001 | Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945: Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia& Beyond | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:45 AM-11:15 AM TTH | Taylor Hall E | Harte,T. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM M | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| ENGL B334-001 | Topics in Film Studies | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:00 PM- 4:00 PM TH | Thomas Hall 102 | Rastegar,R. |
| Film: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM T | Carpenter Library 25 | ||||
| HART B110-001 | Critical Approaches to Visual Representation: Identification in the Cinema | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 10:00 AM-11:00 AM MWF | Carpenter Library 25 | King,H., Teaching Assistant,T. |
| Film: Date/Time TBA | |||||
| HART B238-001 | Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945: Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia &Beyond | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:45 AM-11:15 AM TTH | Taylor Hall E | Harte,T. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM M | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
| HART B334-001 | Topics in Film Studies: Middle East on Film | Semester / 1 | LEC: 2:00 PM- 4:00 PM TH | Thomas Hall 102 | Rastegar,R. |
| Film: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM W | Carpenter Library 25 | ||||
| ITAL B255-001 | Uomini d'onore in Sicilia: Italian Mafia: The Italian Mafia in Cinema and Literature | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 12:45 PM- 2:15 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 17 | Ricci,R. |
| RUSS B238-001 | Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945: Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia & Beyond | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:45 AM-11:15 AM TTH | Taylor Hall E | Harte,T. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM M | Thomas Hall 224 | ||||
Spring 2014
| COURSE | TITLE | SCHEDULE/ UNITS |
MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGL B205-001 | Introduction to Film | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:30 PM- 4:00 PM MW | Carpenter Library 21 | Nguyen,H. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM M | Carpenter Library 21 | ||||
| ENGL B299-001 | History of Narrative Cinema, 1945 to the Present | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:15 AM-12:45 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 21 | King,H. |
| Film: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM M | Thomas Hall 110 | ||||
| HART B205-001 | Introduction to Film | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:30 PM- 4:00 PM MW | Carpenter Library 21 | Nguyen,H. |
| Film: 7:00 PM-10:00 PM M | Carpenter Library 21 | ||||
| HART B215-001 | Russian Avant-Garde Art, Literature and Film | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM MW | Taylor Hall G | Harte,T. |
| HART B299-001 | History of Narrative Cinema, 1945 to the present | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:15 AM-12:45 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 21 | King,H. |
| Film: 7:00 PM- 9:00 PM M | Thomas Hall 110 | ||||
| ITAL B212-001 | Italy Today: New Voices, New Writers, New Literature | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:15 PM- 3:45 PM TTH | Thomas Hall 129 | Interim,R. |
| RUSS B215-001 | Russian Avant-Garde Art, Literature and Film | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM MW | Taylor Hall G | Harte,T. |
Courses at Swarthmore Fall 2012
COURSE |
TITLE | MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FMST 001 | Introduction to Film & Media Studies | T Th 9:55-11:10am, screenings T 7-10pm | Science Center 199, Lang Center 101 |
R. Rehak |
| FMST 009 | Women & Popular Culture | M 1:15-4pm, screenings Th 7-10pm | Lang Center 106 | P. White |
| FMST 013 | Experimental Animation | T Th 2:40-3:30pm | Kohlberg 328 | E. Cho |
| FMST 021 | American Narrative Cinema | T Th 11:20am-12:35pm, screenings W 7-10pm | Kohlberg 115 | P. White |
| FMST 051 | European Cinema | F 2-5pm, screenings M 7-9pm | Science Center 199 | S. Simon |
| FMST 055 | Contemporary Chinese Cinema | T Th 1:15-2:30pm | Kohlberg 302 | H. Kong |
| FMST 097 | Documentary & Community Media | P. White | ||
| FMST 102 A & B | Convergence (1) (2) | Th 1:15-4pm | Trotter Hall 215 | R. Rehak |
Courses at Swarthmore Spring 2013
COURSE |
TITLE | MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FMST 002 | Production Workshop: Digital Film Fundamentals | M 1:15-5pm | Kohlberg 330 | E. Cho |
| FMST 005 | Special Effects & Film Spectacles | T Th 11:20am-12:35pm, screenings T 7-9pm | Kohlberg 230, Lang Center 101 | R. Rehak |
| FMST 025 | TV & New Media | F 2-5pm, screenings Th 7-9pm | Science Center 199 | S. Simon |
| FMST 041 | Fan Culture | T Th 2:40-3:55pm, screenings W 7-9pm | Kohlberg 116 | R. Rehak |
| FMST 045 | Feminist Film & Media Studies | T Th 9:55-11:10am, screeningsW 7-10pm | Trotter Hall 203 | P. White |
| FMST 090 | Film & Media Capstone | W 1:15-4pm, screenings M 7-9pm | Kohlberg 330 | P. White |
| FMST 097 | Independent Study |
2013-14 Catalog Data
ARTW B266 Screenwriting Fall 2013 An introduction to screenwriting. Issues basic to the art of storytelling in film will be addressed and analyzed: character, dramatic structure, theme, setting, image, sound. The course focuses on the film adaptation; readings include novels, screenplays, and short stories. Films adapted from the readings will be screened. In the course of the semester, students will be expected to outline and complete the first act of an adapted screenplay of their own. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Counts toward Film Studies COML B238 Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945Section 001 (Fall 2013): Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia&Beyond Fall 2013 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Division III: Humanities Inquiry into the Past (IP) Cross-listed as ENGL B238 Cross-listed as RUSS B238 Cross-listed as HART B238 Counts toward Film Studies EAST B212 Introduction to Chinese Literature
Section 001 (Fall 2013): The Films of Wong Karwai Fall 2013 This is a topics course. Topics may vary.
Current topic description: This semester, the course will focus on all of the full-length feature films of Hong Kong director Wong Karwai, beginning with the 1988 film As Tears Go By and ending with the 2013 film The Grandmaster. Some topics that will be discussed include translation; brotherhoods, violence and criminality; nostalgia; the use of music; dystopia; translingualism; post-colonialism; and post-humanism. Division III: Humanities Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) Critical Interpretation (CI) Counts toward Film Studies EAST B315 Spirits, Saints, Snakes, Swords: Women in East Asian Literature & Film Not offered 2013-14 This interdisciplinary course focuses on a critical survey of literary and visual texts by and about Chinese women. We will begin by focusing on the cultural norms that defined women's lives beginning in early China, and consider how those tropes are reflected and rejected over time and geographical borders (in Japan, Hong Kong and the United States). No prior knowledge of Chinese culture or language necessary. Division III: Humanities Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies EDUC B320 Topics in German Literature and Culture Not offered 2013-14 Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as GERM B320 Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B205 Introduction to Film Spring 2014 This course is intended to provide students with the tools of critical film analysis. Through readings of images and sounds, sections of films and entire narratives, students will cultivate the habits of critical viewing and establish a foundation for focused work in film studies. The course introduces formal and technical units of cinematic meaning and categories of genre and history that add up to the experiences and meanings we call cinema. Although much of the course material will focus on the Hollywood style of film, examples will be drawn from the history of cinema. Attendance at weekly screenings is mandatory. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Cross-listed as HART B205 Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B238 Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945
Section 001 (Fall 2013): Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia& Beyond Fall 2013 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Division III: Humanities Inquiry into the Past (IP) Cross-listed as RUSS B238 Cross-listed as HART B238 Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B261 Topics: Film and the German Literary Imagination
Section 001 (Fall 2012): Coming of Age: Picturing the Time of Childhood in Not offered 2013-14 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Division III: Humanities Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) Critical Interpretation (CI) Cross-listed as GERM B262 Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B280 Video Practices: From Analog to Digital Not offered 2013-14 This course explores the history and theory of video art from the late 1960's to the present. The units include: aesthetics; activisim; access; performance; and institutional critique. We will reflect on early video's "utopian moment" and its manifestation in the current new media revolution. Feminist, people of color and queer productions will constitute the majority of our corpus. Prerequisite: ENGL/HART B205 Intro to Film or consent of the instructor. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as HART B280 Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B299 History of Narrative Cinema, 1945 to the Present Spring 2014 This course surveys the history of narrative film from 1945 through contemporary cinema. We will analyze a chronological series of styles and national cinemas, including Classical Hollywood, Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, and other post-war movements and genres. Viewings of canonical films will be supplemented by more recent examples of global cinema. While historical in approach, this course emphasizes the theory and criticism of the sound film, and we will consider various methodological approaches to the aesthetic, socio-political, and psychological dimensions of cinema. Readings will provide historical context, and will introduce students to key concepts in film studies such as realism, formalism, spectatorship, the auteur theory, and genre studies. Fulfills the history requirement or the introductory course requirement for the Film Studies minor. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Inquiry into the Past (IP) Cross-listed as HART B299 Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B323 Movies, Fascism, and Communism Not offered 2013-14 Movies and mass politics emerged together, altering entertainment and government in strangely similar ways. Fascism and communism claimed an inherent relation to the masses and hence to movies; Hollywood rejected such claims. We will examine films alluding to fascism or communism, to understand them as commenting on political debates and on the mass experience of movie going. Division III: Humanities Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B324 Topics in Shakespeare: Shakespeare on Film Not offered 2013-14 Films and play texts vary from year to year. The course assumes significant prior experience of Shakespearean drama and/or Renaissance drama. Division III: Humanities Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B334 Topics in Film Studies
Section 001 (Spring 2013): Curating Film: Festivals, Nationalism and Revoluti
Section 001 (Fall 2012): Global Queer Cinema Fall 2013 This is a topics course. Content varies.
Current topic description: This course examines contemporary cinematic images produced in Middle Eastern and Arab countries and in their Diasporas. In his groundbreaking text Orientalism, Edward Said argued that Western representations of the "East" are constructed through an inverted mirror reflection of the West. Grounded in postcolonial theory and film studies, students will explore the role of cultural formation through moving image production and circulation. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as HART B334 Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B336 Topics in Film
Section 001 (Spring 2013): Found Footage Film Not offered 2013-14 This course examines experimental film and video from the 1930's to present. It will concentrate on the use of found footage: the reworking of existing imagery in order to generate new aesthetic frameworks and cultural meanings. Key issues to be explored include copyright, piracy, archive, activism, affect, aesthetics, interactivity and fandom. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as HART B336 Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B353 Queer Diasporas: Empire, Desire, and the Politics of Placement Not offered 2013-14 Looking at fiction and film from the U.S. and abroad through the lenses of sexuality studies and queer theory, we will explore the ways that both current and past configurations of sexual, racial, and cultural personhood have inflected, infringed upon, and opened up spaces of local/global citizenship and belonging. Prerequisites: An introductory course in film, or GNST B290, or ENGL B250. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies ENGL B367 Asian American Film Video and New Media Not offered 2013-14 The course explores the role of pleasure in the production, reception, and performance of Asian American identities in film, video, and the internet, taking as its focus the sexual representation of Asian Americans in works produced by Asian American artists from 1915 to present. In several units of the course, we will study graphic sexual representations, including pornographic images and sex acts some may find objectionable. Students should be prepared to engage analytically with all class material. To maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect and solidarity among the participants in the class, no auditors will be allowed. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as HART B367 Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies GERM B262 Topics: Film and the German Literary Imagination
Section 001 (Fall 2012): Coming of Age: Picturing the Time of Childhood in Not offered 2013-14 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Division III: Humanities Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) Critical Interpretation (CI) Cross-listed as ENGL B261 Counts toward Film Studies GERM B320 Topics in German Literature and Culture
Section 001 (Spring 2013): Germ Literary Culture in Exile Not offered 2013-14 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Previous topics include: Romantic Literary Theory and Literary Modernity; Configurations of Femininity in German Literature; Nietzsche and Modern Cultural Criticism; Contemporary German Fiction; No Child Left Behind: Education in German Literature and Culture. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as EDUC B320 Counts toward Film Studies GNST B255 Video Production Not offered 2013-14 This course will explore aesthetic strategies utilized by low-budget film and video makers as each student works throughout the semester to complete a 7-15 minute film or video project. Course requirements include weekly screenings, reading assignments, and class screenings of rushes and roughcuts of student projects. Prerequisites: Some prior film course experience necessary, instructor discretion. Division III: Humanities Counts toward Film Studies GNST B302 Topics in Video Production
Section 001 (Spring 2013): Experimental Animation Not offered 2013-14 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Prerequisite: GNST B255, ENGL/HART B205-001 or an equivalent Video Production course, such as Documentary Production or an equivalent critical course in Film or Media Studies. Counts toward Film Studies HART B110 Critical Approaches to Visual Representation: Identification in the Cinema Fall 2013 An introduction to the analysis of film through particular attention to the role of the spectator. Why do moving images compel our fascination? How exactly do film spectators relate to the people, objects, and places that appear on the screen? Wherein lies the power of images to move, attract, repel, persuade, or transform its viewers? In this course, students will be introduced to film theory through the rich and complex topic of identification. We will explore how points of view are framed in cinema, and how those viewing positions differ from those of still photography, advertising, video games, and other forms of media. Students will be encouraged to consider the role the cinematic medium plays in influencing our experience of a film: how it is not simply a film's content, but the very form of representation that creates interactions between the spectator and the images on the screen. Film screenings include Psycho, Being John Malkovich, and others. Course is geared to freshman and those with no prior film instruction. Fulfills History of Art major 100-level course requirement, Film Studies minor Introductory course or Theory course requirement. Syllabus is subject to change at instructor's discretion. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Inquiry into the Past (IP) Counts toward Film Studies HART B205 Introduction to Film Spring 2014 This course is intended to provide students with the tools of critical film analysis. Through readings of images and sounds, sections of films and entire narratives, students will cultivate the habits of critical viewing and establish a foundation for focused work in film studies. The course introduces formal and technical units of cinematic meaning and categories of genre and history that add up to the experiences and meanings we call cinema. Although much of the course material will focus on the Hollywood style of film, examples will be drawn from the history of cinema. Attendance at weekly screenings is mandatory. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Cross-listed as ENGL B205 Counts toward Film Studies HART B215 Russian Avant-Garde Art, Literature and Film Spring 2014 This course focuses on Russian avant-garde painting, literature and cinema at the start of the 20th century. Moving from Imperial Russian art to Stalinist aesthetics, we explore the rise of non-objective painting (Malevich, Kandinsky, etc.), ground-breaking literature (Bely, Mayakovsky), and revolutionary cinema (Vertov, Eisenstein). No knowledge of Russian required. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Cross-listed as RUSS B215 Counts toward Film Studies HART B238 Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945
Section 001 (Fall 2013): Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia &Beyond Fall 2013 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Division III: Humanities Inquiry into the Past (IP) Cross-listed as ENGL B238 Cross-listed as RUSS B238 Counts toward Film Studies HART B280 Video Practices: Analog to Digital Not offered 2013-14 This course explores the history and theory of video art from the late 1960's to the present. The units include: aesthetics; activisim; access; performance; and institutional critique. We will reflect on early video's "utopian moment" and its manifestation in the current new media revolution. Feminist, people of color and queer productions will constitute the majority of our corpus. Prerequisite: ENGL/HART B205 Intro to Film or consent of the instructor. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as ENGL B280 Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies HART B299 History of Narrative Cinema, 1945 to the present Spring 2014 This course surveys the history of narrative film from 1945 through contemporary cinema. We will analyze a chronological series of styles and national cinemas, including Classical Hollywood, Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, and other post-war movements and genres. Viewings of canonical films will be supplemented by more recent examples of global cinema. While historical in approach, this course emphasizes the theory and criticism of the sound film, and we will consider various methodological approaches to the aesthetic, socio-political, and psychological dimensions of cinema. Readings will provide historical context, and will introduce students to key concepts in film studies such as realism, formalism, spectatorship, the auteur theory, and genre studies. Fulfills the history requirement or the introductory course requirement for the Film Studies minor. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Inquiry into the Past (IP) Cross-listed as ENGL B299 Counts toward Film Studies HART B306 Film Theory Not offered 2013-14 An introduction to major developments in film theory and criticism. Topics covered include: the specificity of film form; cinematic realism; the cinematic "author"; the politics and ideology of cinema; the relation between cinema and language; spectatorship, identification, and subjectivity; archival and historical problems in film studies; the relation between film studies and other disciplines of aesthetic and social criticism. Each week of the syllabus pairs critical writing(s) on a central principle of film analysis with a cinematic example. Class will be divided between discussion of critical texts and attempts to apply them to a primary cinematic text. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as ENGL B306 Cross-listed as COML B306 Counts toward Film Studies HART B334 Topics in Film Studies
Section 001 (Spring 2013): Curating Film: Festivals, Nationalism and Revoluti
Section 001 (Fall 2012): Global Queer Cinema
Section 001 (Fall 2013): Middle East on Film Fall 2013 This is a topics course. Course content varies.
Current topic description: This course examines contemporary cinematic images produced in Middle Eastern and Arab countries and in their Diasporas. In his groundbreaking text Orientalism, Edward Said argued that Western representations of the "East" are constructed through an inverted mirror reflection of the West. Grounded in postcolonial theory and film studies, students will explore the role of cultural formation through moving image production and circulation. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as ENGL B334 Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies HART B336 Topics in Film
Section 001 (Spring 2013): Found Footage Film Not offered 2013-14 This course examines experimental film and video from the 1930's to present. It will concentrate on the use of found footage: the reworking of existing imagery in order to generate new aesthetic frameworks and cultural meanings. Key issues to be explored include copyright, piracy, archive, activism, affect, aesthetics, interactivity and fandom. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as ENGL B336 Counts toward Film Studies HART B367 Asian American Film, Video and New Media Not offered 2013-14 The course explores the role of pleasure in the production, reception, and performance of Asian American identities in film, video, and the internet, taking as its focus the sexual representation of Asian Americans in works produced by Asian American artists from 1915 to present. In several units of the course, we will study graphic sexual representations, including pornographic images and sex acts some may find objectionable. Students should be prepared to engage analytically with all class material. To maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect and solidarity among the participants in the class, no auditors will be allowed. Division III: Humanities Cross-listed as ENGL B367 Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies HEBR B110 Israeli Cinema Not offered 2013-14 The course traces the evolution of the Israeli cinema from ideologically charged visual medium to a universally recognized film art, as well as the emergent Palestinian cinema and the new wave of Israeli documentaries. It will focus on the historical, ideological, political, and cultural changes in Israeli and Palestinian societies and their impact on films' form and content. Division III: Humanities Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) Critical Interpretation (CI) Counts toward Film Studies Counts toward Middle East Studies HIST B284 Movies and America
Section 001 (Fall 2012): The Past Lives Forever Not offered 2013-14 Movies are one of the most important means by which Americans come to know - or think they know--their own history. This class examines the complex cultural relationship between film and American historical self fashioning. Division I or Division III Critical Interpretation (CI) Inquiry into the Past (IP) Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies ITAL B212 Italy Today: New Voices, New Writers, New Literature Spring 2014 This course, taught in English, will focus primarily on the works of the so-called "migrant writers" who, having adopted the Italian language, have become a significant part of the new voice of Italy. In addition to the aesthetic appreciation of these works, this course will also take into consideration the social, cultural, and political factors surrounding them. The course will focus on works by writers who are now integral to Italian canon - among them: Cristina Ali-Farah, Igiaba Scego, Ghermandi Gabriella, Amara Lakhous. As part of the course, movies concerned with various aspects of Italian Migrant literature will be screened and analyzed. Division III: Humanities Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies ITAL B225 Italian Cinema and Literary Adaptation Not offered 2013-14 The course will discuss how cinema conditions literary imagination and how literature leaves its imprint on cinema. We will "read" films as "literary images" and "see" novels as "visual stories." The reading of Italian literary sources will be followed by evaluation of the corresponding films by well-known directors, including female directors. We will study, through close textual analysis, such issues as Fascism, nationhood, gender, sexuality, politics, regionalism, death, and family in the Italian context. Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) Counts toward Film Studies ITAL B255 Uomini d'onore in Sicilia: Italian Mafia
Section 001 (Fall 2013): The Italian Mafia in Cinema and Literature Fall 2013 This course aims to explore representations of Mafia figures in Italian literature and cinema, with reference also to Italian-American films, starting from the 'classical' example of Sicily. The course will introduce students to both Italian Studies from an interdisciplinary prospective and also to narrative fiction, using Italian literature written by 19th, 20th, and 21st Italian Sicilian authors. Course is taught in Italian. Prerequisite: ITAL B102 or permission of the instructor. Division III: Humanities Course does not meet an Approach Counts toward Film Studies ITAL B299 Grief, Sexuality, Identity: Emerging Adulthood Not offered 2013-14 Adolescence is an important time of personality development as a result of changes in the self-concept and the formation of a new moral system of values. Emphasis will be placed on issues confronting the role of the family and peer relationships, prostitution, drugs, youth criminality/gangsters/violence, cultural diversity, pregnancy, gender identity, mental/moral/religious development, emotional growth, alcoholism, homosexuality, sexual behavior. Prerequisite: ITAL B102. Division III: Humanities Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies Counts toward Film Studies RUSS B215 Russian Avant-Garde Art, Literature and Film Spring 2014 This course focuses on Russian avant-garde painting, literature and cinema at the start of the 20th century. Moving from Imperial Russian art to Stalinist aesthetics, we explore the rise of non-objective painting (Malevich, Kandinsky, etc.), ground-breaking literature (Bely, Mayakovsky), and revolutionary cinema (Vertov, Eisenstein). No knowledge of Russian required. Division III: Humanities Critical Interpretation (CI) Cross-listed as HART B215 Counts toward Film Studies RUSS B238 Topics: The History of Cinema 1895 to 1945
Section 001 (Fall 2013): Silent Film: From U.S. to Soviet Russia & Beyond Fall 2013 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Division III: Humanities Inquiry into the Past (IP) Cross-listed as ENGL B238 Cross-listed as HART B238 Counts toward Film Studies RUSS B258 Soviet and Eastern European Cinema of the 1960s Not offered 2013-14 This course examines 1960s Soviet and Eastern European "New Wave" cinema, which won worldwide acclaim through its treatment of war, gender, and aesthetics. Films from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Yugoslavia will be viewed and analyzed, accompanied by readings on film history and theory. All films shown with subtitles; no knowledge of Russian or previous study of film required. Division I or Division III Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) Critical Interpretation (CI) Counts toward Film Studies SPAN B318 Adaptaciones literarias en el cine español Not offered 2013-14 Film adaptations of literary works have been popular since the early years of cinema in Spain. This course examines the relationship between films and literature, focusing on the theory and practice of film adaptation. Attention will be paid to the political and cultural context in which these texts are being published and made into films. Prerequisite: A 200-level course in Spanish, SPAN 208. Division III: Humanities Counts toward Film Studies Counts toward Latin Amer/Latino/Iberian Peoples & Cultures
Fall 2012 Course Descriptions at Swarthmore College
FMST 009. First-Year Seminar: Women and Popular Culture: Fiction, Film and Television
(Cross-listed as ENGL 009P)
This course looks at Hollywood
“chick flicks” and “women’s films” and television soap operas, their
sources in 19th- and 20th-century popular fiction and melodrama, and the
cultural practices surrounding their promotion and reception. How do
race, class, and sexual orientation intersect with gendered genre
conventions, discourses of authorship and critical evaluation, and the
paradoxes of popular cultural pleasures? Texts may include Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, Gone With the Wind, Rebecca, The Joy Luck Club, Sex and the
City, Twilight. Weekly screenings.
Writing course.
1 credit.
Fall 2012. White.
FMST 013. Experimental Animation
This course is an introduction to analog and digital animation
concepts and techniques and includes workshops on cut-out animation,
stop-motion, and hybrid computer based forms using Adobe After Effects
and Adobe Photoshop. The course emphasizes technical and aesthetic
experimentation, with the goal of developing a personal vision through
the creation of high-quality, experimental works. Through reading,
discussion, and exposure to a variety of artistic practices within
film, video art, and animation, the course promotes a critical
understanding of these media. The class concludes with a public
screening of final projects.
Prerequisites: FMST 01 and FMST 02.
Students with knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and
strong drawing skills are also encouraged to contact instructor for
prerequisite questions.
1 credit.
Fall 2012. Cho.
FMST 021. American Narrative Cinema
Considers film as narrative form, audiovisual medium, industrial
product, and social practice, emphasizing the emergence and dominance
of classical Hollywood as a national cinema, with some attention to
independent narrative traditions (“race movies,” New Queer Cinema).
Analyzes how genres such as the western, the melodrama, and film noir
express aspirations and anxieties about race, gender, class and
ethnicity in the United States. Surveys narrative film history from the
1910s to the 2010s with an emphasis on the Hollywood studio era.
Required weekly evening screenings.
1 credit.
Fall 2012. White.
FMST 051. European Cinema
(Cross-listed as LITR 051G)
The course introduces post-war directors (Bergman and Fellini), British
and French New Waves, Eastern European Cinema (Tarkovsky, Wajda),
Post-New Wave Italian auteurs, Spanish cinema after Franco (Erice,
Saura, Almodovar), New German cinema (Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders),
British cinema after 1970 (Roeg, Leigh, Loach, Greenaway) and Danish
Cinema: Dogme 95 and others. The course addresses key issues and
concepts in European cinema such as realism, authorship, art cinema,
and political modernism, with reference to significant films and
filmmakers and in the context of historical, social, and cultural
issues.
1 credit.
Fall 2012. Simon.
FMST 055. Contemporary Chinese Cinema
(Cross-listed as CHIN 055)
Cinema has become a special form of
cultural mirror representing social dynamics and drastic changes in
mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan since the mid-1980s. The course
will develop a better understanding of changing Chinese culture by
analyzing cinematic texts and the new wave in the era of globalization.
1 credit.
Fall 2012. Kong.
FMST 102. Convergence
This honors seminar explores the cultures and content of the
contemporary mediascape through formal, technological, and political
lenses, reading emergent paradigms such as virality, paratextuality,
and collective intelligence against equivalent historical moments of
media evolution. Particular attention will be paid to the concepts of
“the digital”; rhetorics of revolution and continuity; and the
intersection of information, entertainment, and capitalism within a
dominant episteme of new media. Course majors and other students with
relevant background can apply for instructor’s approval to take the
seminar.
2 credits.
Fall 2012. Rehak.
Spring 2013 Course Descriptions at Swarthmore College
FMST 002. Digital Film Fundamentals
This course introduces students to the expressive possibilities and
rigors of the film medium while offering a sound technical foundation
in digital production and post-production. We will explore documentary,
experimental, and narrative approaches and also consider the
opportunities and limitations-conceptual, practical and aesthetic-of
exhibiting work through different venues and platforms. Emphasis will
be on using the formal and conceptual palette introduced in the course
to develop one’s own artistic vision. Coursework includes short
assignments, discussions, screenings, and a final project.
Prerequisite: FMST 001.
1 credit.
Spring 2013. Cho.
FMST 005. First-Year Seminar: Special Effects and Film Spectacle
Focusing on the history, industry, and theory of special and visual
effects, this course introduces students to the basics of studying and
writing about film and other media through an exploration of “movie
magic.” Related topics include the relationship of film style and
technology; formal and narrative principles of “showstoppers” such as
musical numbers, fight scenes, and car chases; and questions of realism
and illusion, sensation, and visual pleasure. Required weekly
screenings.
Writing course.
1 credit.
Spring 2013. Rehak.
FMST 025. Television and New Media
This course introduces students to major trends in critical thought
regarding electronic media, including the rise of broadcast television,
recent developments in narrowcast or niche programming and
distribution, and the relationship among media industries, advertisers,
and audiences. Special attention will be given to probing and
historicizing the concept of “new” media, examining our ongoing
cultural adaptation to emerging screen technologies and their attendant
narrative and audiovisual forms. Coursework includes blogging,
podcasting, and web-based research. Required weekly evening screenings.
Prerequisite: FMST 001.
1 credit.
Spring 2013. Simon. Spring 2014. Rehak.
FMST 041. Fan Culture
This course explores the history, philosophy, and impact of fandom in
film, television, and new media. Drawing on methodologies including
reception ethnography, feminism, performance, cultural studies, and
convergence theory, we will consider topics such as cults of celebrity;
the creation and sharing of fan fiction and videos; gendered and queer
identities in fan culture; adaptive responses of media texts and
industries; and digital media communities. Screenings include serial
and episodic television, camp and “trash” cinema, and fan-generated
content.
Eligible for GSST credit if all papers and projects are focused on GSST topics.
1 credit.
Spring 2013. Rehak.
FMST 045. Feminist Film and Media Studies
(Cross-listed as ENGL 091 and GSST 020)
This course focuses on
critical approaches to films and videos made by women in a range of
historical periods, national production contexts, and styles:
mainstream and independent, narrative, documentary, video art, and
experimental. Readings will address questions of authorship and
aesthetics, spectatorship and reception, image and gaze, race, sexual,
and national identity, and current media politics.
Eligible for GSST or INTP credit.
1 credit.
Spring 2013. White.
FMST 090. Film and Media Studies Capstone
This team-taught course begins by exploring a major paradigm or
debate in the field and reviewing research methodology and production
techniques. Students then undertake an individual or collaborative
research or creative project (in some cases building upon work started
in another class or independent study), meeting to workshop ideas and
present works-in-progress. Research projects will incorporate
multimedia presentation, and creative projects will be accompanied by
written materials. The semester culminates in a panel/film festival.
Required for senior majors and minors.
1 credit.
Spring 2013. Rehak, White.
FMST 097. Independent Study
Students must apply for preregistration approval in writing.
0.5 to 1 credit.
