(Offered as ENGL 488 and FAMS 447) The Advanced Screenwriting Workshop is designed for advanced English and FAMS majors working in film. The workshop is designed to serve as a resource for serious film students interested in developing an existing idea or script-in-progress, with the goal of writing and revising a 20- to 30-page screenplay (or completing a project-in-progress) by the end of the semester. This maximum page limit can mean drafting and revising a series episode, a script for a short film, or one act of a feature.

(Offered as ENGL 484 and FAMS 424) Sometimes referred to as the “silver era” of US film production, the 1970s were a period of aesthetic, technological, and cultural transformation. New “auteurs” emerged as both mavericks and commercial success stories. Independence reigned supreme for some, while others helped to usher in the contemporary blockbuster. At the same time, scholarly study of film was steadily increasing, experimenting with new disciplinary methods, waging debates, and often distancing itself from popular critical writings.

(Offered as ENGL 474 and AAPI 474) This seminar  draws on transpacific literatures and methods to examine the relationship between narrative and ecology. “Ecology” as a field of scientific study concerns the “relationships between people, social groups, and their environment” (OED). Throughout the course, we will draw on transpacific frameworks to reflect on how the transits of people, and the circulation of ideas, capital, and materials structures impact ecologies and the relationships between people, communities, and non-human lives.

(Offered as ENGL 280 and FAMS 210) An introduction to cinema studies through consideration of key critical terms, together with a selection of films from different cultural contexts for illustration and discussion. Special emphasis placed on prominent genres, movements, and tendencies within contemporary film culture, and the concepts that animate critical debates on contemporary cinema. The keywords for discussion may include, among others: montage, realism, ideology, the gaze, streaming, digitization, truth, and access.

[Offered as ENGL 185 and FAMS 185] This course, an introduction to media studies, examines the relationship between contemporary media forms and the environment with an emphasis on media’s role in the ongoing global environmental crisis. We will analyze the environmental aspects of a range of media objects including science-fiction films, documentary photographs, reality TV shows, video games, and others. But we will also explore the environmental impact of broader media technologies like video streaming platforms and fiber-optic cable networks.

(Offered as ENGL 183 and FAMS 122) Television has become so vast, so amorphous that it may seem impossible to define today. But in this ineffability also lies possibility. This course will explore the possibilities that television offers us when we look at it closely: possibilities of comfort, of speculation, of desire, even of kindness. And we will consider other formal possibilities in television’s various incarnations from its original broadcast commercial format in the US to contemporary streaming applications.

(Offered as ENGL 175 and LLAS 175) This course approaches Latinx poetics from two angles: we will read poems written by U.S. Latinx writers and cultural theory on the shared and divergent experiences of people of Latin American origin or descent in the U.S. Is there a poetics of being Latinx?

(Offered as ENGL 120 and EDST 120) This Intensive Writing course functions primarily as an introduction to academic writing. It also considers from many perspectives what it means to read and write and learn and teach both for ourselves and for others. As part of the work of this course, in addition to the usual class hours, students will serve as weekly tutors and classroom assistants in adult basic education centers in nearby towns.

Offered as EDST 213/AMST 213

EDST 210/AMST209: