WORLD FILM HISTORY TO 1945

Course Number
COML 123 601
Course Code
COML123601
Course Key
65372
Day(s)
Wednesday
Time
5:00pm-8:00pm
Instructor
Fulfills
Arts & Letters Sector (All Classes)
Cross Cultural Analysis Course (for students admitted in Fall 2006 and later)
Course Description
This course surveys the history of world film from cinema’s precursors to 1945. We will develop methods for analyzing film while examining the growth of film as an art, an industry, a technology, and a political instrument. Topics include the emergence of film technology and early film audiences, the rise of narrative film and birth of Hollywood, national film industries and movements, African-American independent film, the emergence of the genre film (the western, film noir, and romantic comedies), ethnographic and documentary film, animated films, censorship, the MPPDA and Hays Code, and the introduction of sound. We will conclude with the transformation of several film industries into propaganda tools during World War II (including the Nazi, Soviet, and US film industries). In addition to contemporary theories that investigate the development of cinema and visual culture during the first half of the 20th century, we will read key texts that contributed to the emergence of film theory. There are no prerequisites. Students are required to attend screenings or watch films on their own.
Crosslistings
ARTH108601
COML123601
ENGL091601
Subject Area Vocab