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Introduction to Film and Its Literatures (214-0-20)

Instructors

James Hodge
847 4915675
University Hall Room 408

Meeting Info

Lutkin Hall: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

This course harbors two primary objectives: 1) to acquaint students with vocabularies and frameworks of argument required to analyze film in terms specific to that medium; and 2) to familiarize students with a broad range of written texts crucial to the study of cinema, enabling them to render persuasive interpretations of those texts, as well. d politics of written work get preserved but also transformed on screen, in blatant and subtle ways. Cultivating techniques of close analysis—whether breaking down a film sequence, parsing a scholar's arguments, or negotiating between two versions of the "same" story—will be the paramount skill developed in the course, hopefully leading to deeper appreciations of several kinds of texts.

Assignments will presume no prior coursework in film studies, but they will require quick, studious absorption of terms and concepts that might be new. Moreover, the course requires a willingness to put movies and other assigned materials under close observation and interpretive pressure, while hopefully retaining the joy of watching, reading, and evaluating them.

Teaching Method

Lectures and discussion sections.

Evaluation Method

Exams; short in-class writing.

Class Materials (Required)

None.

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area