Film Narrative
Craig Saper profile
MW 3-4:30
This course will focus on three general theoretical approaches to understanding film. It will not teach film criticism which evaluates films in terms of thumbs up or down. The course will examine how scholars analyze films in order to recognize and highlight cultural and aesthetic structures in the cinema. The first approach to analyzing film formalism studies a film's construction as an artwork. The second approach, structural semiotics, examines how the contents of a film suggest specific cultural connotations. The third approach, cine-semiotics, studies the relationship between spectators and movies. In order to demonstrate concretely how each of these theories operates, this course will primarily explore Hollywood narrative films. Assignments include regular quizzes, short papers, two in-class exams, and a research paper. Attendance at all class meetings and screenings is mandatory. (Note: These are two offerings of the same course!)
updated 2006-02-20
