Film Theory and Criticism

Catalog description

Studies in traditional and contemporary film theory and criticism. COMM 550 Film Theory and Criticism (3) COMM 550 seeks to introduce students to a variety of theoretical approaches to the critical analysis of film. The course devotes attention to aesthetic as well as social, cultural, political and economic issues, assuming that they are, in fact, inseparable. It involves viewing films closely, and researching the contexts of their production and reception. It stresses critical thinking, reading, viewing and writing skills. COMM 550 assumes that films can reveal, both directly and indirectly, something about the experiences, identity, and culture of the people who produce and consume them. That is, movies can be analyzed--even psychoanalyzed--to reveal something about the cultural conditions that produced them and attracted audiences to them. The course seeks both to familiarize students with works they probably haven't seen, and to "defamiliarize," through critical and historical analysis, works they very well may have seen. Films are examines as formal constructs, market commodities, and cultural artifacts.Individual instructors may emphasize film authorship, styles, genres, systems or cycles. They may focus on the context, text or reception of a film, filmmaker, or group of films. The emphasis of COMM 550 is always on the self-conscious, theoretically informed analysis of cinematic texts.