Introduction to Film Studies

Catalog description

This course is a wide-ranging introduction to the fascinating world of film and the cinema industry. Here we will look at the language and critical tools we use to understand and interpret films, while considering examples from a variety of geographical, historical, and theoretical backgrounds. Following a primarily historical trajectory, the course will allow students to develop an appreciation of cinema's role in visual culture throughout the 20th century up to our present day. Understanding how movies function, how they become meaningful for their audiences, and how this relationship between moving images and viewers has evolved during the past 120 years, contributes to our further enjoyment of cinema in its various manifestations. At the same time, this deeper appreciation and knowledge allows us to come to grips with the ways in which movies have had an impact on the broader construction of society and human culture to date. 001394