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Film Theory
Course Number FLS 351-01-SEM
Course Title Film Theory
Department Film Studies
Campus Smith College
Course Description This seminar will explore central currents in film theory, including formalist, realist, auteurist, structuralist, psychoanalytic, feminist, poststructuralist theories, and genre, queer and cultural studies approaches to questions regarding the nature, function, and possibilities of cinema. We will understand film theory readings through the socio-cultural context in which they were and are developed. We will also be particularly attentive to the history of film theory: how theories exist in conversation with each other, as well as how other intellectual and cultural theories influence the development, nature and mission of theories of the moving image. We will emphasize written texts (Bazin, Eisenstein, Kracauer, Vertov, Metz, Mulvey, DeLauretis, Doty, Hall, Cahiers du Cinema, the Dogme Collective, etc.), but will also look at instantiations of film theory that are themselves acts of cinema (Man with a Movie Camera, Rock Hudson?s Home Movies, The Meeting of Two Queens). The course is designed as an advanced introduction and assumes no prior exposure to film theory. Fulfills film theory requirement for the major and minor. Enrollment limited to 12. Prerequisite: 200 or the equivalent. Priority given to Smith College Film Studies Minors and Five College Film Studies Majors. Priority given to seniors, then juniors.
Course Notes Instructor Permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores

Reg # Section Credits Instructors Meeting Times Location Notes
31880-S10 01 4 Alexandra Keller T 01:00-02:50

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