NOTE: Course blog link above goes to the blog of the Fall 2013 version of the course.
This course is a wide-ranging introduction to the fascinating world of cinema. Here we will look at the language and critical tools we use to understand and interpret films from a variety of geographical, historical, and theoretical backgrounds. Following a primarily historical trajectory, the course will allow students to develop an appreciation of cinema’s role in audiovisual culture throughout the 20th century up to our present day. Understanding how movies function, how they become meaningful for their audiences, and how this relationship between moving images and viewers has evolved for the past 100+ years, contributes to our further enjoyment of cinema in its various manifestations. At the same time, this deeper appreciation and knowledge allows us to come to grips with the ways in which movies have had an impact on the broader construction of society and human culture to date.