ENGL 470 - Film Theory:An Introduction

Institution:

Trinity College

Subject:

Description:

This course introduces the most important theoretical models which have been used to explain how films function as art, ideology, language, history, politics and philosophy. Some theorists are mainly concerned with the aesthetic potentials of the cinema: How do categories such as realism, authorship and genre explain and enhance our experience of films Other theorists are focused on the relations between films and the societies that produce them, or on general processes of spectatorship: How do Hollywood films address their audiences How do narrative structures shape our responses to fictional characters As the variety of these questions suggests, film theory opens onto a wide set of practices and possibilities; though it always begins with what we experience at the movies, it is ultimately concerned with the wider world that we experience through the movies. Theorists to be examined include Munsterberg, Eisenstein, Burch, Kracauer, Balazs, Bazin, Altman, Gunning, Mulvey, Metz, Wollen, Havel, Benjamin, Pasolini, Deleuze and Jameson. (Note: English 470 and English 870 are the same course.) For undergraduate English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of a literary theory course or a course emphasizing literature written after 1800. For the English graduate program, this course can count as an elective for the literary studies track, or a core course for the writing, rhetoric, and media arts track. 1.00 units, Seminar

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.Trincoll.edu

Phone Number:

(860) 297-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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