Film and Media Studies 290 - THEORIES AND METHODS

This course is designed to give FMS majors and minors a solid grounding in the primary methods of our field. In other words, what are the broad approaches scholars have taken to the study of media, and what specific methodological strategies have proved most effective? We begin with theory as one such method—one that zooms out to ask broad questions about the essential nature of a medium. Our history unit shifts the focus to how media are impacted by and implicated in the progression of time and culture. Finally, our criticism unit features strategies for analyzing individual media objects. Prerequisite: FMS 150. Enrollment limit of 15. Students must register in both the lecture and the film screening sections.