Courses

Spring 2009 Courses


Film Studies 1: Introduction to Film Studies (4 units)
Jaimey Fisher, Associate Professor of German

Lecture: TR, 4:10 - 5:00
Film Viewing: M, 6:10 - 9:00

Discussion Sections:

  • Section 1 (W, 5:10 - 6:00) CRN 75014
  • Section 2 (R, 6:10 - 7:00) CRN 75015
  • Section 3 (F, 9:00 - 9:50) CRN 75016
  • Section 4 (F, 10:00 - 10:50) CRN 75017
  • Section 5 (M, 4:10 - 5:00) CRN 75018
  • Section 6 (M, 9:00 - 9:50) CRN 75019
  • Section 7 (M, 5:10 - 6:00) CRN 75020
  • Section 8 (W, 4:10 - 5:00) CRN 75021

Course Description:
The course aims to introduce students to various aspects of film studies, including film analysis, film history, as well as, film (especially genre and auteur) theory. The main focus of the course, however, is on film analysis, particularly on the technical and narrative analysis of feature films that will entail a close viewing of the films. The course introduces students to the technical aspects of film, including cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, and sound; it also offers a survey to film history as well as important international movements, including early cinema, Soviet Montage, German Weimar Cinema, neo-realism around the world (including India), the U.S. film noir, and "New Asian" cinema. We shall be examining, among other topics, the social, cultural, and political contexts of film as a medium as well as of particular films. The main objective for the course is for students to be able to view films critically, to develop a systematic and convincing interpretation of the film out of this critical viewing, and to articulate this analysis in a well-constructed and persuasive essay. GE credit: ArtHum, Wrt.

Course Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Film viewing - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Prerequisite: None.

Textbook: Bordwell, Film Art (text only); Bordwell, Film Art (with CD).


Film Studies 120: Italian-American Cinema (4 Units) CANCELLED (See message below from the Film Studies Director)
Juliana Schiesari, Professor of Comparative Literature (CRN 93192)

Course Description:
The main focus of this course will be the cinema of Martin Scorsese. We will study his “gangster” films not only in the context of his Italian-American experience in New York but also through the lens of marginalized ethnicities (Irish and Italian). We will also analyze his other films which depict the struggles of isolated individuals whose only answer to life’s events seems to be violence and brutality (Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) and, yet, seem to find redemption in the most contorted of situations. We will also consider how gender is constructed and manipulated in a world of hyper-masculinity. And while the main focus will be the cinema of Scorsese, we may also consider other films by Quentin Tarantino, Francis Ford Coppola, Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, and others. GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.


Film Studies Director's Note:
I realize that those of you enrolled in FMS 120 (Italian-American Film) are going to be very disappointed that the course had to be cancelled a few days ago. To help you identify COURSES THAT CAN FULFILL the same upper-division FMS requirements (Race/Ethnicity; Cinematic Movements and Traditions), I am sending you all the following list of courses that are offered in Spring and that fulfill upper-division Film Studies requirements:

  • JST 120: Cinema and the Jewish-American Experience (Race/Ethnicity OR Cinematic Movements and Traditions)

  • DRA 114: Shakespeare on Screen (Cinematic Movements and Traditions)

  • WMS 164: Feminist Film Theory and Iranian Cinema (Race/Ethnicity OR Gender/Sexuality OR Film Theory)

  • WMS 160: Women of Color in the Cinema (Race/Ethnicity OR Gender/Sexuality)

  • MUS 115: History of Film Music (Cinematic Movements and Traditions)

To download the course descriptions of these courses, please click HERE.