Interdisciplinary Minors

Film and Media Studies

Faculty

Brunette (coordinator), Burton, Christensen, Fuchs, Gibson, Lont, Ricouart, Roan, P. Smith, Winkler

We are inundated on a daily basis with mass culture, especially as it is purveyed through the mass media. The effects are enormous and often unconscious. The film and media studies (FAMS) interdisciplinary minor aims to develop in students a more informed awareness of the nature of this culture, its ideological tendencies, and its effects on daily life in our society. The program offers diverse perspectives on mass media in the belief that such juxtapositions are more productive than any single approach. Committed to interdisciplinary studies, the program addresses the increasing complexity and multiplicity of visual cultures.

The program's basic components are offered through the departments of Communication, English, and Music, with other courses available through the Department of Modern and Classical Languages. This 18-credit interdisciplinary minor is designed to introduce and explore mass culture in its visual manifestations. The program offers students the tools with which to read a variety of texts, including film, television, video, news media, and architecture.

Requirements

Students in this minor complete 18 credits distributed as follows.

1. Two required courses (6 credits) provide an introduction to the languages of film and popular media and to modes of analysis appropriate to each. These courses are prerequisites for all advanced work in the minor.

• ENGL 332 Introduction to Film (offered every semester)
• COMM 380 Media Criticism (offered every fall and spring semester; occasionally in summer)

2. After completing the two required courses, students select four additional courses (12 credits) from those listed below. These courses are designed to introduce students to a more specialized level of study. Students may decide to focus on film or emphasize the study of mass culture, or they may choose some mixture of courses that suits their own interests.

Communication majors must choose at least 6 credits outside of Communication for their FAMS elective courses.

• COMM 302 Foundations of Mass Communication
• COMM 350 Mass Communication and Public Policy
• COMM 355 Video I: Principles and Practices
• COMM 358 Video II: Producing and Directing (prerequisite: COMM 355)
• COMM 360 Video II: Video Editing (prerequisite: COMM 355)
• COMM 365 Women and Media
• COMM 452 Media Production Practicum (prerequisite: COMM 355)
• COMM 456 Comparative Mass Media
• COMM 602 Theories and Research of Mass Communication
• COMM 655 Theories of Visual Communication in Telecommunications
• ENGL 327 Introduction to Cultural Studies (may only be taken with approval of the coordinator, who will review the course to determine relevance to FAMS)
• ENGL 334 Literary Approaches to Popular Culture (may only be taken with approval of the coordinator, who will review the course to determine relevance to FAMS)
• ENGL 338 Cultural Constructions of Sexuality (may only be taken with approval of the coordinator, who will review the course to determine relevance to FAMS)
• ENGL 421 Topics in Film History (may be repeated if the topic is different). Sample topics include Italian film, films of the 50s, and French film.
• ENGL 422 Topics in Film Theory (may be repeated if the topic is different). Sample topics include reading television and Hitchcock and film theory.
• ENGL 490 Special Topics in Film (may be repeated if the topic is different). Sample topics include the horror film, queer film and theory, and African American film.
• ENGL 493 Special Topics in Popular Literature (requires approval of FAMS coordinator)
• ENGL 498 Internship: Special Topics (requires approval of FAMS coordinator)
• ENGL 499 Independent Study (requires approval of FAMS coordinator)
• FREN 470 Topics in French Cinema (permission of instructor and approval of coordinator)
• MUSI 301 Music in the Motion Pictures
• RUSS 470 Topics in (Post) Soviet Film

For further information, contact Peter Brunette, Department of English, Robinson Hall, Room A465, (703) 993-1190.