Courses
View courses in
- COM CI 101: History of Global Cinema 1: Origins through 1950s
Gives overview of history of global cinema from beginning of cinema through the 1950s. Introduces concepts of modes of production, national and transnational frameworks, film aesthetics, film authorship, and other factors that influenced production, circulation, and reception of films worldwide. - COM CI 102: Global Film History II: 1960s to the Present
A survey of global cinema from 1960 to the present, covering the transformation of Hollywood from the classical studio system to the New Hollywood, the rise of international new waves in Europe and Latin America in the 1960s and 70s, and the renewal of art cinemas through major international auteurs in Europe, Africa, and East Asia. - COM CI 201: Literature and the Art of Film
Survey and analysis of cinema as an expressive medium from the silent period to the present. Films are screened weekly and discussed in conjunction with works of literature. Students must register for screening, discussion, and lecture. Also offered as CAS EN 175. - COM CI 202: Understanding Film
Introduces students to key aesthetic aspects of film by exploring a range of styles and genres in film as seen through the medium's history. Focus on analysis of formal elements, viewing both complete films and individual sequences. Also offered as COM FT 250. - COM CI 263: Phil and Film
- COM CI 269: Representations of the Holocaust in Literature and Film
Questions of representation in literature and film about the Holocaust, including testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, Ozick, and others; films include documentaries and feature films. Discussions of the Holocaust as historical reality, metaphor, and generative force in literature. Also offered as CAS RN 385 and CAS XL 281. - COM CI 303: Understanding TV
History of a medium that negotiates the tensions between government intervention and private enterprise; artistic ambition and the limitations of viewing technologies; hyper commercialism and the integrity of the text; network control and creative freedom. Also offered as COM FT 303. - COM CI 320: Weimar Cinema
German silent and early sound films from Caligari to Hitler, viewed in the aesthetic context of contemporary and recent film theory and criticism and in the broader cultural context of the interwar Weimar Republic (1918-1933), with international points of comparison. Weekly screenings. Also offered as CAS LG 387. - COM CI 321: Brazilian Cinema
An overview of Brazilian cinema in the 60s, 70s and 80s, its discourse on revolution and marginality, as well as its connection to artistic, musical, and literary movements. Focus on the work of avant-garde filmmakers and younger generations. Also includes attention to Cuban cinema. Taught in English. Also offered as CAS LP 310. - COM CI 340: Jane Campion: A Girl's Own Story
In-depth study of Jane Campion, whose prolific output has largely resisted any attempt to represent "the" woman's voice -- a pressure Campion has had to face due to being a rare female director working in a male-dominated industry. Also offered as CAS WS 305. - 有限公司
- COM CI 369: Greek Tragedy and Film
This course explores Greek tragic myth's afterlife in cinema: how certain Greek tragic myths have come to life as film and also how certain "non- mythic" stories have acquired a mythic power in cinematic form. It looks at both Greek tragedy and cinema---each one through the lens of the other---as embodying in some essential way a habit of mind, the human search for meaning, that takes the form of seeing in darkness. In cinema, this Greek metaphor of tragic vision has become the medium. Also offered as CAS CL 325. - COM CI 373: Women and Film
Study of principally American films, exploring how the medium has shaped and been shaped by cultural perceptions of women. Readings provide background for interpretation of films ranging from screwball comedy to film noir, "women's films," and films by women directors. Also offered as CAS WS 346. - COM CI 390: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies
Two topics are offered in Fall 2016. Students may take one or both for credit. Section A1: Black Humor in Literature and Film. What is funny about death, misery, and suffering? A lot, according to certain writers and film- makers who respond to the absurdity and futility of mortal existence with a savage hilarity. Weekly screenings. Also offered as CAS EN 375. Section B1: Gender, War and Revolution in the Middle East. A gendered examination of wars and of revolutions that have shaped borders and societies in the Middle East from WW I to the present. Texts include films, Nobel prize winning literature, graphic novels. Topics covered colonialism, modernization, proliferation of technology. Taught in English. Also offered as CAS XL 381 and CAS WS 305. - COM CI 420: Classical Hollywood Romantic Comedies and Melodramas
Discussion of romantic comedies and domestic melodramas made in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. These films set standards for dialogue writing, rich characterization, film performance, and story structure. Also offered as COM FT 401. - COM CI 460: Masters of Italian Cinema
The creative work of Fellini, Visconti, Antonioni, Bertolucci, and De Sica as expressions of a specific cultural perspective on Italian life of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Additional focus on several novels and screen plays that have influenced the work of the directors. Also offered as CAS LI 473. - COM CI 462: Asian Cinema
Surveys important and influential films from India, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere in East Asia from the 1950s to the present, including works from Satyajit Ray, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, Zhang Yimou, Tsai Ming- liang, and Wong Kar-wai. Also offered as COM FT 404 and COM FT 708. - COM CI 490: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies
One topic is offered for Fall 2016. Section A1: Growing Up in Korea. Memoirs, prose fiction, film, television dramas, and graphic narratives. How have the conventions of Korean coming-of-age narratives evolved? What does this say about changes in Korean identity? Also offered as CAS LK 470. - COM CI 510: Critical Studies in Literature and the Arts: Film Theories
Intensive study of major theories of film (Soviet montage, semiotics and structuralism, feminist psychoanalytic theory, genre theory, postmodernism, digital means of production) discussed in relation to exemplary films, screened weekly. Also offered as CAS EN 493. - COM CI 521: American Independent Film
A survey of cinema from the past three decades originating outside of the studio system. Filmmakers to be examined include Elaine May, Barbara Loder, John Comsavetes, Robert Kramer, Mark Rappaport, and Charles Burnett, among others. Also offered as COM FT 533 and COM FT 723.
