ENGL3707 - 01 - Film Theory

The course introduces students to the history of film and to "classical" and contemporary approaches to theorizing film. At the same time that students learn about cinema as an artistic form, they learn to think and write critically about its cultural relevance. Students read key theoretical texts, study nine films,and learn to analyze them using various theoretical approaches, including ideological criticism, psychoanalytic theory, feminist theory, and queer theory. Possible films include Citizen Kane (1941), Strike (1925), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Rear Window (1954), Fatal Attraction (1987), The Color Purple (1985), Paris Is Burning (1990), and Slacker (1991).