|
|
|
In this Department
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catalog
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other
Links
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cinema Studies
Cinema is both the primary
art form of modern culture and the central component of the media
industries that structure contemporary society. We cannot understand
fully how music, painting, and literature, or other artistic practices
have developed without seeing them in relation to cinema, and we cannot
begin to comprehend the full significance of the media in our lives
without first studying cinema. The major in Cinema Studies is designed
to teach students to examine the meanings of cinema in the broadest,
most interdisciplinary ways, considering movies as works of art, as
cultural forms, and as industrial practices.
Cinema Studies offers
three kinds of courses. Electives
are cinema courses open to all students without prerequisite. All
such courses count toward the major. Introductory
Core courses are
Cinema Studies 101, Form, Style, and Meaning in Cinema and the Cinematic
Traditions Courses taught by the Cinema Studies Faculty. Cinema Studies
101 and one Cinematic Traditions course are required for the major.
Advanced Core courses
are 300- and 400-level
courses taught by core faculty. These courses require at least Cinema
Studies 101 or a Cinematic Traditions course or consent of the instructor
as a prerequisite.
Further information about
the major, faculty and courses is available at the major's home page
on the web: www.oberlin.edu/~fsc.
Major.
The Cinema Studies Major requires 30 hours in Cinema Studies Courses,
including:
* Cinema
Studies 101, Form, Style, and Meaning in Cinema
* At least one
course from among Cinema Studies 215, 225, 241, and 272 "Cinematic Traditions"
courses.
* At least three
300 level courses taught by core faculty
* One 400 level
course
* Electives chosen
in consultation with advisor
* Cross-referenced
courses also count toward the Cinema Studies major:
African American Studies 261, "Framing Blackness: African Americans
and Film in the United States, 1915 to the Present
Chinese 109, Topics in Chinese Film
English 208, Shakespeare and Film
French 250, French Cinema: An Introduction
French 473, French Cinema: Special Topic
Film Production.
The Cinema Studies Major does not at this time offer a separate production
track for the major. However, courses in Film Production do count toward
the major.
Spring Semester at NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts. The Cinema Studies major has a consortial
arrangement with the Film Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Students interested in the spring semester at Tisch should consult with
the chair of the major committee. All film courses, including those
in film production, offered at Tisch count toward the Cinema Studies
major at Oberlin.
Transfer of Credit.
No more than 15 hours of transfer credit in Cinema Studies may be applied
to the Oberlin English major. To have transfer credit approval toward
the major and/or toward meeting prerequisites for upper-level courses,
students should consult the chair of the English Department (or his
designate), preferably with syllabi in hand
Winter Term. Winter
Term projects sponsored by Cinema Studies faculty will be according
to the interests and availability of staff. Students also are encouraged
to propose group projects which, with an approved sponsor, they will
direct.
Honors.
Students interested
in Honors in Cinema Studies should consult with the chair of the major
committee early in the second semester of their junior year. Students
will be expected to submit a detailed proposal for an Honors project
to be done in their senior year. Honors is a year-long project, done
for 1- 3 hours each semester.
|
|
back to top
|
Courses
of General Interest
Cinema Studies 101, 221,
and 272 are open to students who have completed any Writing Intensive
course, or have gained Writing Certification in any course in the
Humanities. They are also open to those who have achieved a 5 on the
AP exam in English Language/Composition or English Literature/Composition,
or a score of 710 or better on the SAT II Writing test. Other students
may be admitted by consent of the instructor, with the understanding
that students should be able to demonstrate the ability to handle
writing, discussion, and analysis in ways typically taught in Writing
Intensive classes.
101. Form,
Style, and Meaning in Cinema 4 hours
4HU, WR
First and Second Semester.
This course considers the cinema as a particular media form and explores
issues and methods in cinema studies. The class focuses on questions
of film form and style (narrative, editing, sound, framing, mise-en-scene)
and introduces students to concepts in film history and theory (industry,
auteurism, spectatorship, the star system, ideology, genre). Students
develop a basic critical vocabulary for examining the cinema as an art
form, an industry, and a system of culturally meaningful representation.
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment Limit: 30.
Mr. Pingree
|
|
back to top
|
Cinematic
Traditions Courses
221. Documentary
Forms 4 hours
4HU, WR
Second Semester. What
exactly do we mean by "documentary"? Is it a mode able to capture
the actual world in ways that fictional forms cannot? What is at stake
in doing documentary work? In this course we will explore some of
the practical and theoretical issues surrounding documentary representation.
Focusing on cinema, we will examine an array of documentary texts
and compare various documentary traditions, asking how each frames
its pursuit of "the real." We will consider documentary practices
from diverse standpoints--structural, aesthetic, political, ethical,
historical. Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment
Limit: 30.
225. New German
Cinema 3-4 hours
3-4HU, WR
Second Semester. West
German filmmakers of the sixties and seventies broke ranks with the
established film industry in an effort to create a new film language.
This course examines representative films by such directors as Fassbinder,
Herzog, von Trotta and Schlöndorff to ascertain what was "new"
and what was" German" about this movement. Films (subtitled), with
lectures and discussions in English. Identical to GERM 325.
241. History
of German Cinema 3-4 hours
3-4HU, WR
First Semester. German
films played a prominent role in four twentieth-century Germanies,
rendering the very notion of "the" German cinema complicated at best.
This course examines representative films from 1919 until 1968 to
examine the route and roots of film culture in the Weimar Republic,
the Third Reich, the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic.
Films (subtitled), with lectures and discussions in English. Identical
to GERM 341.
272. American
Cinema: The Possibilities of Art in the Entertainment Business 4
hours
4HU, WR
First Semester. This
course will focus on how American cinema functions as an entertainment
industry and the ways in which the demands of business and technology
have shaped it. At the same time we will explore American movies as
works of art produced in a tradition of strong genres and the star
system, and efforts of filmmakers to use these for individualized
expression. The course will focus particularly on the two great eras
of American cinema, the late 1930s and early 1940s and the 1970s.
(Not open to students who have already taken ENGL 273.). Prerequisite:
See headnote above. Identical to ENGL 272. Enrollment Limit:
30.
|
|
back to top
|
Advanced
Cinema Courses
320. Documentary
Production: Theory and Practice 4 hours
4HU, WR
Second Semester. This
course explores documentary form in both critical and creative ways.
The class introduces students to various ways to think about and understand
documentaries (in terms of structure, purpose, audience, etc.) and then
gives them the opportunity to practice basic documentary production
(camera, lighting, sound, non-linear editing). After engaging in various
individual and small group exercises, students spend the balance of
the Semester working together to produce a short documentary video.
Prerequisite:
CINE 101 or a Cinematic Traditions Course or three 200-level courses
in English, plus consent of instructor. Identical to ENGL 320. Enrollment
Limit: 25.
Mr. Pingree
340. Technology
and Contemporary American Culture 4 hours
4HU, WR
First Semester. Contemporary
innovations in technology are often seen as promising either a starry
futuristic dream (of interactivity and globalization) or a dystopian
nightmare (of regulation and homogenization). This course seeks to
move beyond such polarized judgments by looking closely at formal
and thematic representations of technology in various cultural objects--film,
literature, visual art, electronic resources. Along with these texts,
we will read critical and theoretical works on technology and its
relation to aesthetic and social experience. Prerequisite:
CINE 101 or a Cinematic Traditions course or three 200-level courses
in English. Identical to ENGL 340. Enrollment Limit: 25.
373. American
Culture and Literature in the 1930s 4 hours
4HU, WR
First Semester. This
course focuses on American culture in the 1930s with particular reference
to the relation between the novel and cinema, though other arts and
media such as photography, painting, and music will also be addressed.
We will consider not only the relation of these arts to each other
but to the social crisis of the Great Depression. Prerequisite:
Cinema Studies 101 or a Cinematic Traditions course or three 200-level
courses in English. Identical to ENGL 373. Enrollment Limit:
25.
413. Questions
of Authorship in Cinema: Woody Allen and Spike Lee 4 hours
4HU, WR
First Semester. What
is an author in the cinema? Drawing from relevant theoretical work,
the class will fashion critical methods for exploring questions of
cinematic authorship and then apply those methods to the work of Woody
Allen and Spike Lee. For their own seminar projects, students may
consider actors, directors, styles, or movements of their choice.
Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit:
12.
436. Movies
and Melodrama 4 hours
4HU, WR
Second Semester. This
course will explore the long history, cultural contexts and critical
challenges associated with melodramatic narrative cinema. We will
study the origins of melodrama, the rise and fall of its status as
a form, its association with women as subjects and audiences, its
adaptation to different historical and cultural contexts, and its
relationship to contemporary problems of cultural analysis. Expect
a demanding viewing and reading schedule, high expectations about
participation and presentations, and to develop a significant independent
project. Consent of instructor required.
Identical to
ENGL 436. Enrollment Limit: 15.
498. Honors
1-3 hours
1-3HU WR
First Semester. Students
interested in pursuing Honors should consult with the Director of
the Program. Consent of instructor required.
499. Honors
1-3 hours
1-3HU WR
Second Semester. Students
interested in pursuing Honors should consult with the Director of
the Program. Consent of instructor required.
Staff
|
|
back to top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
