This course provides an understanding of the nature and state of contemporary Arabic lanugage news an dopinion reporting. It focuses on the major Arabic language newspapers and selected Arabic satellite new channels and programs. Instructor: B. Frangieh [Prereq: Arabic 44 or higher. Elective]

This course will examine works by writers and filmmakers from French-speaking countries of Africa and the Caribbean. Special emphasis will be placed on questions of identity, the impact of colonialism, social and cultural values as well as the nature of aesthetic creation. Prerequisite: French 44 or equivalent. Instructor: M. Shelton [Elective]

Since the late 1960s, new generations of French citizens has emerged to redefine France and Frenchness. These new generations are French citizens whose parents or grandparents were originally from North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa, yet who grew up or were born in France, often in the suburbs of major French cities. This course will focus on their experience and more broadly the experience of being African in France in the 21st Century, an experience rooted in migration and colonial history between France and the African continent. Specifically, however, we will also examine the place this new generation occupies in France today through close readings of selected literary and critical texts and through a range of media, old and new, aural and visual. Instructor: Aitel, Fazia. [Elective]

From the time of the conquest, the outside world turned the Amazon into an imagined place to unleash their adventure fantasies about lost cities of gold and their fears about savage jungles and Indians. From a historical perspective, this course interrogates the creation of Amazonia from the nineteenth-century rubber boom to contemporary environmental campaigns. We analyze visual images, explorers’ accounts, ethnographies, novels, films, advertisements and environmental campaigns. The point is to understand how the Amazon and its people have been imagined externally and internally, and why certain narratives hold power in the Western world. Instructor: S. Sarzynski [Elective]

Analyzes the relationship between the political decision makers and the news media. Topics include: the structure and organization of print and electronic media; forms of political journalism, such as investigative reporting and commentary; ways by which political figures try to influence the news; the impact of news stories on public opinion. Instructor: Pitney [Elective]

This course examines Korean history, politics, culture, and society through analysis of their representation in contemporary Korean cinema. This course will follow the history of Korea chronologically from Yi Dynasty to the present, focusing on topics such as Confucianism, the Colonial period, nationalism, the Korean War, national division, military government, democratic movements, and urbanization. The focus of the class will be equally distributed between the films themselves and the historical time and people captured on these films. Knowledge of Korean is not required. Instructor: M. Kim [Elective]

This course examines Korean history, politics, culture, and society through analysis of their representation in contemporary Korean cinema. This course will follow the history of Korea chronologically from Yi Dynasty to the present focusing on the topics such as Confucianism, Colonial period, nationalism, Korean War, national division, military government, democratic movements, and urbanization. The focus of the class will be equally distributed between the films themselves and the historical time and people captured on these films. Knowledge of Korean is not required. Letter grade only. [Elective]

This is an introductory course in digital video production. The course provides an opportunity for students to explore the language and aesthetics of film and media through creative projects. Over the course of the semester, students will make a series of short videos, and will consider how video production helps to elucidate important concepts in the history and theory of film and media practice. Practical instruction will be given in the use of cameras, tripods, microphones, lighting and editing equipment. In addition to video projects, coursework will include readings and screenings. Prerequisite: One introductory film studies or media studies course. Film & Media Studies majors only. Instructor: Schur, Thomas. [Intro. Production]

An intensive hands-on course in feature writing styles and journalistic ethics; a primer for writing in today’s urban America. Essentially, journalism, like all art, tells a story. How that story is told is as critical to the success of a piece as the importance of its theme. A series of writing exercises and reporting “assignments” will give both inexperienced and more advanced writers the tools to explore their writerly “voice.” Special attention will be devoted to discussions of the role of the journalist in society. Instructor: Staff [Elective]

A seminar-workshop on the theory and practice of writing screenplays. We will view films and read scripts in a variety of genres, examine the roles of art, craft, and commerce in writing for film, and discuss in general the enterprise of being a writer. Each student will make substantial progress in the writing of an original screenplay. Instructor: Staff [Elective]

This course examines currents in American literature and film from World War II to the present. Though the course surveys key trends over this period—especially against the backgrounds of modernism and post-modernism—we will concentrate in particular on the “lyric” impulse in American culture, studying works concerned with ideas of epiphany, meditation, contemplation, transcendence, a general conception of the “poetic” and the role of feeling and the emotions in modern life. With a primary focus on short forms, we will pay special attention to work that confronts the question of how to maintain “lyric” artistic standpoints amid cultural and social developments often inimical to them. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media Theory or Media History]

From its inception, cinema has often been conceptualized as having a “language” of its own. This course examines that metaphor from aesthetic, cultural, social, and historical perspectives. We will begin with a close analysis of a contemporary popular film, in an effort to “defamiliarize” typical conventions of cinematic expression, and then proceed through a study of multiple movements and genres in the history of film, from German Expressionism to the French New Wave, from Hollywood to documentary to avant-garde and independent filmmaking. Overall, the course is intended to provide students with a broad introduction to film analysis and to the field of Film Studies. Instructor: J. Morrison/Schur, Thomas [Intro. Critical]

This course surveys the history of cinema as art and mass medium, from the introduction of sound to the rise of the “New Hollywood.” Topics such as cinematic response to World War II, the decline of the studio system, and “new waves” of European filmmaking are studied in social, cultural and aesthetic perspectives. Offered every other year. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media History]

This course surveys the history of cinema as art and mass medium, from 1965 to the present. Topics such as the rise of independent filmmaking in America, the conglomeration of the studios, and European resistance to Hollywood’s domination on the world market are considered in social, cultural, and aesthetic terms. Offered every other year. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media History]

This course examines correspondences and affinities between literature and film in aesthetic, cultural and social contexts. Throughout we will look not only at specific case studies of literary adaptation or cross-reference, but consider the larger questions of culture and value implied in these transactions. Writers and filmmakers to be considered include Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Carson McCullers, Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, and Robert Altman. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media Theory]

A seminar designed to explore the aesthetic achievement and social impact of film as an art form. Subjects for study include such topics as specific film genres, the work of individual film-makers, and recurring themes in film. Each year the seminar concentrates on a different area-for example, “Film and Politics,” “The Director as Author,” or “Violence and the Hero in American Films.” Offered every other year. Instructor: J. Morrison, R. von Hallberg [Media History]

This course examines the work and legacy of Alfred Hitchcock from cultural, social, historical and artistic perspectives. Special attention will be paid to Hitchcock’s work in relation to cultural modernism and social modernity, and to his influence on both avant-garde and commercial cinemas, including the French New Wave (1959-1968) and the New Hollywood (1967-1975). Instructor: Morrison, James E. [Media History] 

Mainstream genres can be seen as expressions of American culture’s popular mythology. This course will concentrate on selected genres to examine the social values, issues, and tensions that underlie these narratives and their characteristic ways of resolving fundamental societal conflicts. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media Theory; G/U]

This is a survey of gay and lesbian cinema in the U.S. from the early 20th century to the present. The course examines depictions of gay/lesbian themes in Classical Hollywood cinema of the 20s-60s, as well as more recent examples including Sylvia Scarlett, Tea and Sympathy, The Children’s Hour, The Killing of Sister George, Poison, Swoon, Watermelon Woman, and Brokeback Mountain. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media History or Media Theory]

This course will examine film as art and as medium in the context of the rise of 20th-century “mass culture.” We will take up such topics as the role of film in producing the ideas of “mass culture;” the cinematic representation of the “masses;” film as an instrument of the standardization of culture and as a mode of resistance to it; film and modernism; film and postmodernism; representations of fascism in cinema; and “subculture” considered as an effect of mass culture. Offered every third year. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media Theory; G/U]

This course investigates the major film theories from the beginnings of cinema to the present. We begin with a study of classical film theory (1900-1960) that attempts to define the essence of the form, its relation to reality, and its status as mass medium and/or art. We then move on to more recent work that examines film from ideological, sociological, or psychological perspectives, or considers the changing nature of cinema in the digital age. Readings include works by Hugo Munsterberg, Vachel Lindsay, Sergei Eisenstein, Lev Kuleshov, Rudolf Arneim, Bela Balasz, Andre Bazin, Christian Metz, Raymond Bellour, Laura Mulvey, Mary Ann Doane, Paul Virilio, Friederich Kittler, D.N. Rodowick, and Nicole Brenez. Instructor: J. Morrison [Media Theory, G/U]

This course is an introduction to North African Studies which offers an overview of North African literature and culture, through a selection of the works of some of the most important North African authors from diverse ethnic backgrounds (Arab, Berber, French and Jewish). In addition, we will consider a selection of films, photographs, and other visual culture which will provide further insights into the complex social political and religious fabric of each country and the region as a whole. And, of course, we will consider music, which, along with poetry, is a cultural practice and form which is oral and an essential aspect of the everyday life in North Africa. [Elective]

This course employs critical social, race, gender, and post-colonial theories to analyze the role of religious symbols, rhetoric, values, and world-views in American film. After briefly examining film genre, structure, and screenwriting, the course will explore religious sensibilities in genres such as Historical Epic, Action/Adventure, Science Fiction, Comedy, Drama, and Politics. Instructor: G. Espinosa [Elective]

This course critically examines how Blacks, Latinos/as, and Native Americans have been depicted and socially constructed in Hollywood-distributed films over the past century. We start by exploring screenwriting and critical theories about film, race, religion, gender, and social change and then how Hollywood has served as a vehicle for both affirming racial-ethnic stereotypes and/or challenging and resisting them in their desire to rewrite the visual narrative of American history. We analyze and interpret how film can function as a vehicle for racial, religious, political, gender, and/or social commentary, conscientization, protest, and reconciliation. Instructor permission required. [Elective]

Starting from an interdisciplinary perspective, this course explores the significant role of culture (films, novels, songs, newspaper articles, photography) in the construction of the social imaginary of the immigrant in Europe, particularly in Spain. It focuses on visual and written narratives about immigrants from Africa (Morocco, Senegal), Latin America (Cuba, Dominican Republic), and Asia (China, Bangladesh), examining the complex identities of both Spaniards and immigrants. Among the main themes are: “North/South” validity; departure-border-crossing-arrival stages of migrants’ journeys; conceptions of hybridity, otherness, border, “new Europeanness,” and neo-racism; role of history and religion in the acceptance/rejection of foreigners; feminization of immigration. Instructor: R Vega-Durán [Course is in Spanish. Elective]

Traces the development of Latin American cinema from the formative years of the 1960s through the 1990s. Examines both films and theoretical writings of pioneering filmmakers, paying special attention to the emergence of a new women’s cinema in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Offered every third year. Instructor: S. Velazco [Prereq: SPN 100 or above, or permission of instructor. Elective]

The popularity of Mexican cinema has grown recently, thanks to a number of films that have done very well at the box office and won recognition at international film festivals. This course explores the development of Mexican cinema in the 21st century (2000-2010), focusing on the most innovative filmmakers. It examines thematic and stylistic variety in films dealing with history, politics, gender, democracy, and society. We also will consider Mexican filmmakers that are filming in Hollywood such as Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu as well as the impact of globalization in Mexican film production. Offered every third year. Instructor: S. Velazco [Prereq: Spanish 44 or equivalent. Elective]

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the thematic and stylistic variety in documentary films from and about Latin America. We will examine a series of questions related to the content, form, and politics of documentary films. The course will include documentaries by Santiago Álvarez, Fernando Birri, Luis Buñuel, Patricio Guzmán, Luis Ospina, Fernando Pérez, Lourdes Portillo, Marta Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Rulfo, Fernando Solanas, Carmen Toscano, Win Wenders, among others. Instructor: S. Velazco [Prereq: upper division Spanish course (100 or above) or permission by instructor. Elective]

This course explores how photographic landscape imagery has shaped our experience and ideas of the land. Examining work dating back to the invention of the medium in 1839 to contemporary artists and even NASA’s Mars Rover images, we will consider how photographic imagery documents and determines the topography around us. Instructor: K. Fandell [Art History]

Approaching the medium from an artistic perspective, students will explore a variety of photographic concepts and techniques. This course emphasizes seeing, thinking, and creating with a critical mind and eye to provide understanding of the construction and manipulation of photographic form and meaning. The fundamentals of working with a digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR), including manual controls and lighting, are covered. Students will also explore everything from cell phone cameras, web cams and disposable cameras as equally legitimate tools for creating art. Assignments, lectures, readings and excursions will build on each other to provide students with an overview of the history and contemporary practice of photography. $75.00 fee. Instructor: K. Fandell [Intro. Production]

This course provides an introduction to media computation. Students learn to program in Python in order to analyze, manipulate, and synthesize images, sounds, text, and movies. This course is intended for students with no programming experience, particularly those in the media arts. This course is designed for non-HM and non-computer science students to fulfill their formal reasoning or math requirement. It is particularly useful for MS majors because it is a MS elective, and students learn about using a programming language to write imaging software programs. Check your campus requirements. Instructors: Z Sweedyk & Michael Erlinger [Elective]

Introduction to elements of computer science. Students learn general computational problem-solving techniques and gain experience with the design, implementation, testing and documentation of programs in a high-level language. In addition, students learn to design digital devices, understand how computers work, and learn to program a computer in its own machine language. Finally, students are exposed to ideas in computability theory. The course includes discussions of societal and ethical issues related to computer science. Instructor: Z. Dodds [Elective]

Emerging in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, the notion of Third Cinema takes its inspiration from the Cuban revolution and from Brazil’s Cinema Novo. Third Cinema is the art of political film making and represents an alternative cinematic practice to that offered by mainstream film industries. This course explores the esthetics of film making from a revolutionary consciousness in three regions: Africa, Asia and Latin America. Instructor: I. Balseiro [Media Theory]

Intro to Film is an introduction to film analysis, exploring the language of film through weekly screenings and discussions. We will examine the craft of filmmaking—cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound, and editing, from silent films, to classical Hollywood cinema, to experimental and independent film and video. We will also consider film as a story-telling medium, as an expressive art form, as an industrial product, and as a preeminent force in transmitting American culture, politics, stereotypes, and myths around the globe. Instructor: R. Mayeri [Intro. Critical]

Documentary is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field. This fall, students will shoot their own documentaries while analyzing its historical and contemporary forms. We will be looking at how communications technology— photography, film, video, the web—has influenced documentary form and content. In as much as documentary is a way of portraying history, this course will traverse the sociopolitical events of the 20th and early 21st centuries. As representations of people, in ethnographic film, documentaries act as interpreters, interlocutors and even exploiters. We will examine the ethics of the act of representation. We will look at the interplay of fiction and nonfiction in cinematic realism and poetics. We will also examine how documentary has functioned in society to support or undermine the state and the vitality of democracy. Instructor: R. Mayeri [Soph. Jr. or Sr. only. Recommended prereq. MS 49 or equivalent. Media History]

This course will examine representations of animals in film – wildlife documentaries, animated features, critter cams, scientific data, and video art – to address fundamental questions about human and animal nature and culture. Animal Studies is an interdisciplinary field in which scholars from philosophy, biology, media studies, and literature consider the subjective lives of animals, the representations of animals in media and literature, and the shifting boundary line between human and animal. In readings, screenings, and discussions, we will consider the cultural and material lives of humans and animals through the lenses of science, art, literature, and film. Instructor: Mayeri, Rachel. [Media Theory] 

A hands-on exploration of the aesthetics of abstract computer animation and its relation to music. Filmmakers and artists studied will include Kandinsky, Fischinger, the Whitneys, Belson, and many others. Instructor: B. Alves [Prereq: CS 5 or equivalent knowledge of computer programming. Elective]

Digital Cinema is an intermediate/advanced video course, exploring the creative potential of digital video techniques, such as compositing, animation, and motion graphics. Students develop digital projects and participate in critiques. Lectures, discussions, and screenings enhance students’ exposure to art and cinema. Prerequisite: Introduction to Video Production or equivalent. By written permission of instructor. Instructor: R. Mayeri [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Emerging in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, the notion of Third Cinema takes its inspiration from the Cuban revolution and from Brazil’s Cinema Novo. Third Cinema is the art of political film making and represents an alternative cinematic practice to that offered by mainstream film industries. This course explores the aesthetics of film making from a revolutionary consciousness in three regions: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Instructor: Balseiro, Isabel. [Media Theory] 

A thematic and formal study of literary and cinematic responses to the experience of exile. Exile evokes something that happens to individuals, but also to collectivities. First, something happens in life that provokes a rupture with one’s origins and that entails a historical process. Exile is an event, but how does it come about and what are its ramifications? How does exile effect a change of relationship between individual and society, homeland and geography of banishment, home language and adopted tongue? This course examines how writers and filmmakers meet that often painful historical process through creativity. Among the authors to read are Aimé Césaire, Edward Said, George Lamming, V. S. Naipaul, Med Hondo, and Hamid Naficy; films to be viewed focus on the third world. Instructor: I. Balseiro [Media History or Media Theory]

This course will examine representations of animals in film – wildlife documentaries, animated features, critter cams, scientific data, and video art – to address fundamental questions about human and animal nature and culture. Animal Studies is an interdisciplinary field in which scholars from philosophy, biology, media studies, and literature consider the subjective lives of animals, the representations of animals in media and literature, and the shifting boundary line between human and animal. Through readings, screenings, and discussions, we will consider the cultural and material lives of humans and animals through the lenses of science, art, literature, and film. Instructor: R. Mayeri Note: This course number has been used for other courses such as Science and Visual Culture. [Media Theory]

This course will examine representations of animals in film—wildlife documentaries, animated features, critter cams, scientific data, and video art—to address fundamental questions about human and animal nature and culture. Animal Studies is an interdisciplinary field in which scholars from philosophy, biology, media studies, and literature consider the subjective lives of animals, the representations of animals in media and literature, and the shifting boundary line between human and animal. In readings, screenings, and discussions, we will consider the cultural and material lives of humans and animals through the lenses of science, art, literature, and film. Instructor: R. Mayeri [Media Theory]

An intermediate digital media production course utilizing Processing, computer vision, the Arduino, and hobby servomotors to produce robotic artworks. This course explores critical thinking on the origins of the robot concept, context for robot production, the potential to reshape our future robotic cohabitants, genesis, and robots in relation to environmental stewardship. $150 fee. This course is the equivalent of MS 119 and cannot be taken twice. Instructor(s): Staff. [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This course is an introduction to video art through history, theory, analysis and production. The goal for this class is for you to produce meaningful, creative, expressive, innovative media for an intelligent and broad audience. In order to achieve this goal you will learn the fundamentals of video production in labs, critiques, and exercises: conceptualizing, planning, shooting, sound recording, editing and analysis. You will also learn – through readings and discussions – about pioneers and contemporary practitioners of video art. This class has a required lab. $75 course fee. Students in this course must also register for one section of MS 82L. Prereq: Media Studies 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Instructor: Mayeri, Rachel. [Intro. Production] 

The basics of using software on a general purpose computer to synthesize and manipulate digital sounds. Neither a background in music nor the ability to read music is required. A background in computers is helpful but not required. Instructor: Staff [Elective]

An investigation of contemporary music through performances, analyses, recordings and discussions of representative compositions from late Romanticism and such 20th-century styles as Neo-classicism, Surrealism and Minimalism, as well as aleatoric and electronic techniques. The course is offered in conjunction with the Joint Music Program. Instructor: W. Alves [Prereq: The ability to read music. Elective]

An exploration of the history and aesthetics of the use of music in cinema, primarily the Hollywood film from the so-called silent era to the present. The course will include the development of skills of listening analysis and writing about music in the context of narrative film. No background in music or film history is required. Instructor: Alves [Elective]

This course will use feature films as ethnographic sources for exploring the cultures of China and Japan. It will juxtapose the examination of historical and anthropological material with films and recent film criticism. Includes weekly film screenings. Instructor: E. Cho [Elective]

From reflecting on the ethics of listening to religious cassettes in Egypt to listening with oceanographers as they use sound to know and to navigate, anthropologists are increasingly doing ethnography with their ears. This new research represents a conscious democratization of the senses. This course provides a survey of the anthropology of sound while reflecting on and imagining the future of sound ethnography. We will examine how sound and music are perceived, produced, disciplined, and silenced across cultures. In doing so, we will read ethnography, philosophy and sound studies to understand how sound relates to perception, space, politics, and culture. In addition to reading, we will have in-class listening examples and will experiment with ways of incorporating sound in our research. Instructor: Lippman, Alexandra. [Elective]

The main goals of this course are for students to get acquainted with the current state of social science research on cyberspace, to think about what an anthropological and ethnographic approach can gain for us and begin to carry such a project out, and to think critically and collectively about a series of questions about society in the cyber age. Instructor: J. Norvell [Media Theory]

An overview of significant issues and movements in art from 1945 – 1989. Mainstream and alternative art movements are discussed in relation to the cultural politics of the post-World War Two era. Topics include Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Performance and Conceptual Art, Process Art, Land Art, Site-Specificity, Institutional Critique, Feminist Art, and the Culture Wars of the 1980s. Emphasis is on North America and Western Europe, with comparisons to emerging global art centers. Instructor: B. Anthes. [Art History or Elective]

An examination of contemporary art in the context of economic and cultural globalization, taking travel, movement, and notions of place as key themes for understanding the art of the recent past. Topics include the impact of the end of the Cold War and the rise of economic neoliberialism on the arts; the emergence of new global art centers in the wake of major political transformations such as the fall of South African apartheid; contemporary Native American and Australian Aboriginal artists in the global marketplace; and artists’ response to issues of nationalism, ethnic violence, terrorism, and war. Instructor: B. Anthes. [Art History]

This course will introduce students to the diversity of practices, positions, and current issues dealt with by contemporary artists living in Southern California. A major component of the class will involve visiting artists in their studios, critiquing major museum exhibitions and viewing public art works in Los Angeles. The students will develop a public art work or monument for the Los Angeles area. This is not an exercise in city planning or city bureaucracy but an opportunity to explore your creative potential. Instructor: C. Ennis [Elective]

Black and white and color photography will be explored through studio and fieldwork with the camera, darkroom exercises and critiques. Field trips and gallery visits. Equipment needed: 35 mm camera with lightmeter. Enrollment is limited. Program fee: $40. Additional student expenses around $100. Instructor: M. Schiff [Intro. Production or Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Viewing of films and other documentary forms by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for critique and discussion. Basic instruction in use of digital video technology to document social issues relevant to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Community-project. Instructor(s): Staff. [Elective]

The course will engage itself with the visual styles of major film directors from different parts of the world. The creative process in the visual style of John Ford (U.S.) will be compared to that of Akira Kurosawa (Japan), that of Andrei Tarkovsky (Russia) to that of Theo Angelopoulos (Greece), that of Glauber Rocha (Brazil) to that of Jean-Luc Godard (Switzerland), and that of Tomas Gutierrez Alea (Cuba) to that of Ousmane Sembene (Senegal). How do these directors in their specific contexts represent national visual styles? Instuctor: N. Masilela [Elective]

The course will attempt to trace the development of the Cuban literary imagination from Jose Marti, in the context of the national liberation struggle for independence, to Roberto Fernandez Ratamar, in the context of the construction of socialism. The literary works (fiction and poetry) of Alejo Carpentier, Jose Lezama Lima, Severo Sarduy and Guillermo Cabrera Infante will form the centerpiece of the course. The films of Humberto Solas, Sara Gomez, Sergio Giral, and Gutierrez Alea will be part of this exploratory process. Instructor: N. Masilela [Elective]

One of the seriously debated issues concerning African literature today is whether that portion of it written in the European languages forms a constitutive or central part of it. This issue is interwoven with the relationship between oral literature and written literature within Africa’s cultural space. Diverse genres from the different corners of Africa will be read into each other as defining a particular discourse: for example, Ngugi wa Thiongo from Kenya, Wole Soyinka from Nigeria, Nadine Gordimer from South Africa. Instructor: N. Masilela [Elective]

The course will attempt to define Latin America as a literary and historical construct. The survey will cover essential and classical works of Latin American literature. The literary lineages of these works will be uncovered in an attempt to trace their historicity. A series of Latin American films which grapple with the historical problems facing this continent will also be shown. Instructor: N. Masilela [Elective]

This course explores global cities through visual and literary depictions. We will consider how the visual and literary depictions inform, romanticize, and darken our perceptions of the present globalizing world. Instructor: Correia, Jane R. [Elective]

Poland is one of the exhilarating enigmas of Central Europe, a country tragically overflowing with romantic spirit in a geopolitical region where perhaps sober realism should be the order of the day. Despite this complicating factor, Poland has produced both great literature and outstanding film. The course will attempt to unravel the gushing romanticism of the 20th-century Polish literary and cinematic imagination. Instructor: N. Masilela [Elective]

The course will attempt to trace the development of the Cuban literary imagination from Jose Marti, in the context of the national liberation struggle for independence, to Roberto Fernandez Ratamar, in the context of the construction of socialism. The literary works (fiction and poetry) of Alejo Carpentier, Jose Lezema Lima, Severo Sarduy and Infant will form the centerpiece of the course. The films of Humberto Solas, Sara Gomez, Sergio Giral, and Gutierrez Alea will be part of this exploratory process. Instructor: N. Masilela [Elective]

This course will survey the literary structure of Indian literature in the English language from Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore to Salman Rushdie. Its positioning in relation to other Indian Literatures from Vedic and Sanskrit Literatures to Urdu Literature will be examined. The films of the late great Satyajit Ray will be shown. Instructor: N. Masilela [Elective]

This class explores the intersections of film and literature to discover how the dialogue between the two media enhances our reading experience of the printed word while developing new kinds of visual literacy. The class will focus on a selection of British novels that have been adapted for film. Instructor: S. Bhattacharya [Elective]

This course examines African American writers and film and video-makers whose focus on race and sexuality shapes the content and form of black queer narratives. The class will explore relationships between black queer artists and black feminist and queer theories. Instructor: L. Harris [Prereq: IDBS 10 or written permission. Media Theory]

As humans, our relationship with the world is deeply affected by the images we use to understand and express our place in nature.  This course involves a critical investigation of how ecological issues and insights are communicated through graphic media.  Explorations of prehistoric art, historic landscape painting, contemporary photography, wildlife art, nature documentaries, photojournalism, and other visual expressions will illuminate the philosophies and motivations of those who create and use these images.  We analyze presentation techniques ranging from ‘objective’ documentation (e.g., National Geographic Magazine) to expressive interpretation (e.g., expressive filmmaking).  Special consideration is given to how visual images are used to explain, explore, and manipulate.  Central themes of the course include the ecology of expressive culture and the politics of nature imagery.  Final projects allow students to critically examine visual imagery as a tool, and to home skills of documenting, interpreting, and presenting the natural world. Instructor: P. Faulstich [Elective]

We examine ideas of nature and the environment and how they have been explored in film. From wildlife documentaries, to popular dramas of environmental struggles, to cult classics and Disney’s animated visions of nature, the human-nature relationship has been depicted through film to transmit particular views of the world. We view and study films, read relevant theory, and actively critique ways in which our worldview has been shaped and impacted by cinema. Instructor: P. Faulstich/M. Herrold-Menzies [Elective]

This course traces changes in the communication of “news” in the United States, from courthouse oratory in the early republic to network television in the late 20th century. Topics of study include the invention of “news” itself in the early 19th century, the development of journalism as a profession, the rise and fall of objectivity as a professional goal since 1900, and the ways in which changes in technology have affected the transmission of information. Formerly listed as HIST 150. Instructor: S. McConnell [Elective]

This digital humanities course will examine contemporary African culture and politics from a historical perspective. In collaborative teams, students will create digital archives of Africa’s more recent past, generating and circulating knowledge by curating nontraditional source material, including photography, art, film, video, television, print, televisual and digital advertising, and new media. The aim is to privilege diverse perspectives within civil society. Major themes to be addressed include: colonial and Cold War legacies; race, gender, and sexualities in post-apartheid South Africa; environmental preservation and tourism in East Africa; and the “post-state” in West Africa in the nee-liberal age. Instructor: O’Rourke, Harmony ; Talmor, Ruti. [Media History] 

An examination of Zen Buddhism, not as a mystical cult but as a mainstream intellectual and cultural movement in China, Japan, and also the modern West. Issues to be addressed include: How do iconoclastic religious reform movements develop wealthy institutions and diverse textual and artistic traditions? What is religious meaning for nuns and monks who hold that there is nothing to know? What can this mean in the modern world? Instructor: J. Parker [Prereq: any one of Religious Studies 10, 100, 103, or 117 or permission of instructor. Elective]

This course offers a survey of current practices and debates around curating art, especially contemporary and modern art. Students will review the recent history of these issues, view and critique current exhibitions on view in the Southern California area, and design a hypothetical exhibition of their own. Readings and class presentations will provide a wider critical and historical framework for understanding contemporary debates in curatorial practice. Instructor PERM required. Instructor(s): Lerner, Jesse ; Ennis, Ciara 

This course examines the ways in which crime and criminality have been represented in narrative cinema across cultures and nationalities. On the one hand, we will look at how “crime” and “the law” are construed, how violence is depicted, how criminals and the police are portrayed, and how “justice” is imagined in different national cinemas during different periods. On the other hand, we will look films that deal with specifically “transnational crimes” that involve border-crossing, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, and illegal immigration. We will also be putting these films in dialogue with readings about nationalism, transnationalism, globalization, and legal systems in different parts of the world. Moreover, questions of urban space, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, community, and identity will be central to our discussions. The goal of the course is, through the examination of a wide range of films, to shed insight on what constitutes a “crime” and a “criminal” and, therefore, “justice” and “injustice” in our contemporary transnational, globalized society. Instructor: J. Baron [Media History]

This course involves production, a historical survey of documentary practices in photography, film and video, and a discussion of the ethical and ideological issues raised by the genre. Students will be expected to produce two short documentary projects in any media. Instructor: J. Lerner, R. Talmor [Media History or Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Women have made politicized documentaries since the invention of the motion picture camera. Students will learn this complex theoretical, historical and political tradition while producing their own feminist documentary. Enrollment is limited. Course fee: $150. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent, or MS 82. Media Theory; G/U]

This integrated production/theory course will survey the traditions of technologically-mediated ethnography with a particular focus on the digital realm. The course will provide an overview of the ethnographic tradition and it will explore the practical and ethical questions that digital devices and the internet present as both tools and sites of studying human societies and sociality. Possible final projects for the course could be: a video documentary, an audio soundscape, an ethnographic study of an online community, using the internet as a component of multi-sited fieldwork, or a critical analysis of the digitization of a social phenomenon. Prereqs: MS 49, MS 50, MS 51, LIT 130, ANTH 002, ANTH 003. Instructor: Esmaeli, Kouross. [Intermediate/Advanced Production or Media Theory]

Presents a comprehensive view of the issues important to media studies, including the development of new technologies, visual literacy, ideological analysis, and the construction of content. Students read theory, history and fiction; view films and television programs; and write research and opinion papers. Instructor: E. Affuso [Intro. Critical]

Film and video are often considered to be a distinct semiotic system or art form with their own “language.” This course surveys the variety of structures which can organize moving pictures: from Hollywood continuity editing, Soviet montage and cinema verité to voice-over documentary, talking-heads and postmodern voices with no center at all. The course includes silent film, classic Hollywood narrative, avant-garde film and video, documentary and activist video. Instructor: M. Ma [Intro. Critical]

An interdisciplinary introduction to digital and electronic media, exploring the relationships between “old” and “new” media forms, the historical development of computer-based communication and the ways that new technologies are reshaping literature, art, journalism and the social world. Instructor: G. Lamb [Intro. Critical]

This is an introductory level course exploring different areas of study within sound culture, an emerging field in the human sciences. This course will introduce students to ways of thinking historically and culturally about sound and listening. Sound studies is an inherently interdisciplinary field. While this course is grounded in media studies, it also intersects with history, visual and performing art, architecture, music, cultural studies, anthropology and ethnography, as well as other disciplines. The course will survey wide ranging topics and cultures including American and European industrialization; rainforest soundscapes of Papua New Guinea; cassette sermons by Islamic preacher in Cairo, Egypt; avant-garde music and DJ culture, to name a few. Instructor: M. Ma [Elective]

The teachings of the historical Buddha (6th century BCE) spread from India to China and from there to all of Asia. With the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1951, prominent Tibetan Buddhist teachers fled to the West bringing “the dharma” with them. Slowly but surely, the Buddhist perspective is influencing American contemporary culture. What does Buddhism offer the occidental world? Through cinema, autobiography, and the writings of contemporary teachers, and by practicing basic sitting meditation, we will examine the basic premises of Buddhist thought, and enhance our capacities for kindness, compassion and wisdom. Instructor: V. Mudd [Elective]

This course will explore the evolution of the documentary genre with a particular emphasis on political films. From the simple ethnographic beginnings, to the complex creative expression of political truths that we see today, we will research the historical conditions and events that gave rise to some of the most influential American political films. The styles, ethics, choices and techniques employed by important filmmakers will be explored. Instructor: V. Mudd [Media History]

A production course on making physical objects for screen-work, photography, sculpture, and other practices using digital fabrication. The specific tools are object modeling software, primarily Blender, and the machines commonly referred to as 3D printers. Using such tools in the making of multiples, structures for kinetic objects, procedurally-generated morphology, and objects that mirror the form of contemporary mass-produced visual culture is explored, as are techniques for modeling different categories of shape and function. That the hand, mind, and eye of the practitioner remain their primary tools, even in this environment of machinic ubiquity, is a primary revelation of the class. First years need permission. Instructor: Ingram, Ian. [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Introduction to Digital Sound Production explores tools and techniques for digital media artists working with sound, including studio setup, recording techniques, sampling, sound synthesis, audio effects, and techniques for live performance such as remixing and the use of interactive multimedia systems. Individual or group audio projects and listening sessions will enhance students’ skills in critically engaging sound in digital art and interactive media more broadly. Instructor: D’Errico, Michael. [Intro. Production] 

Creative Coding is an introductive course to DIY electronics, algorithmic art practices, and creative coding via various hardware and software applications. Each class is a hybrid of work survey, technology instruction, and hands on workshop. [Intro to Production]

An introduction to a range of modernist vanguard movements from 20th century South, Central and North America, this course surveys the literary, cinematic and fine arts production of these groups. Emphasis is placed on the close analysis of primary texts and comparative studies across genres, media and national boundaries. Instructor: J. Lerner. [Media History]

Working in groups, students will plan and implement collaborative media projects with Ontario community sites that promote civic discourse around regional social issues. Areas to be covered in class include introductory video production techniques, ethical community media praxis, and examination the social efficacy of a wide range of media justice and activist projects. This is an introductory level media production course designed for (but not limited to) students that have taken or are currently enrolled in the Ontario Program coursework. Instructor: G. Lamb [Intro. Production]

This course presents an overview of movements, theories, and methods employed by media makers committed to social change. From the early Soviet film collectives, through the Third Cinema movement of 60s in Latin America, and continuing on to feminist, queer, and youth video activist movements in the U.S. that have laid the groundwork for the rise of socially driven media collectives and campaigns today. In response readings and film screenings, students will be asked to critique both the ethical means and efficacy of media documents as organizing tools for raising consciousness and critical dialogue. They will also be encouraged to develop their own theories of media as a conduit for social change based on the creation of participatory production projects that strive to incite civic discourse. Instructor: G. Lamb [Media History or Media Theory]

An investigation of both the oppressive and oppositional potential of the fiction film as it either captures or constructs cultural understandings of women’s sexuality, agency and identity. This introduction to feminist film theory and scholarship will consider the representation of women in a variety of classic Hollywood and avant-garde film and video. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Media Theory; G/U]

This course places the concept of ‘race’ as central to critical media as well as science and technology studies. We will study how historians and theorists have discussed the concept as part of the rise of modern capitalist society. We will look at the role of technology as a material force that delineates the parameters of profit accumulation, exploitation, and social distinction in order to better conceptualize the notions of race in our contemporary digital society. Instructor: Staff [Media History or Media Theory]

Generic coding allows for the telling and re-telling of narratives which revel in (white, male, heterosexist) society’s “hidden” fears, desires and beliefs. But what happens when the demons, seductresses, whores and monsters of such tales revision genre for their own ends? We will consider how horror, melodrama and film noir speak to/for/about women. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Media Theory; G/U]

This is a topic-driven, intermediate-level production course. Topics are chosen in response to student interest in particular areas of media theory, or to enable them to adapt to ever-changing platforms of media technology. Students in the class will develop specialized technical skills based on their training in introductory production courses, and focus on specific fields of knowledge within Media Studies. Instructor: M-Y. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

How does the invention of cinema fit within the emerging order of modernism? This class will examine early cinema in the context of the turn-of-the-century project of extending the field of human vision, examining topics such as ethnography, science, journalism, travel, representations of the city and architecture, and the construction of racial difference. Instructor: J. Lerner [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Media History]

An introductory-level course exploring video as a medium, particularly as it is utilized by women, people of color, lesbians and gays, and grassroots activists, as well as other people who are under- and/or mis-represented by mainstream media. Students will learn about the history of video technology, and how certain developments within it made video an accessible and powerful tool for self-expression and political intervention. Class activities include screening of independent videos, writing assignments, and group discussion. Instructor: M. Ma [Elective]

This course explores the inter-relationships between commercial popular music and digital media in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Students will explore issues such as gender and identity in popular music, the remix as cultural practice, the politics of digital sampling, hip-hop and dance music in Post-Ferguson America, the relationship between music and interactive media such as video games, and globalization in the age of cloud computing. By combining critical listening skills with original research and writing, students will engage core debates within popular music and digital media studies. Instructor: D’Errico, Michael. [Media History]

This workshop is an introduction to all aspects of digital video production—camera, lights, tripods, sound and non-linear editing. Hands-on assignments will be organized around the formal properties and power of video. The workshop will allow students to evaluate each other’s work as well as that produced by media professionals and to create a final video of their own. This class has a required lab. Students in this course must also register for MS 82L PZ. Instructors: A. Juhasz, M. Ma, S. Hutin, R. Talmor [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Enrollment is limited. Fee: $150. Intro. Production]

Contemporary Practices in Media is a class developed around visiting media artists’ presentations through the Pitzer Cinematheque Series and field trips to media exhibits in Los Angeles. Students will be provided with related readings in order to shape and lead discussions on how these artists and exhibitions relate to larger media studies histories. Instructor: Staff [Media History]

Rejecting the prevailing Hollywood wisdom that one needs millions of dollars to make a movie, this class explores different models for creating moving images with the most modest of resources. Options to be considered include hand processing, camera-less films, PXL video, super-8 film, recycling and appropriation. Students will be expected to create several short exercises in order to familiarize themselves with these different techniques, as well as a final project. Course fee: $150. Instructor: J. Lerner [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This course offers a historical survey of ethnographic film, beginning in the silent era with the early efforts of Robert Flaherty and with Curtis, and continuing to recent works by Manthia Diawara, Marlon Fuentes and Trinh T. Minh-ha. Instructor: J. Lerner [Media History]

This is an intermediate-level video production class. Students are required to complete short (one to two minute) assignments every other week. The objectives of the class are to further refine the skills of shooting, editing, etc., and to develop a critical vocabulary to talk about your work and the work of others. Course fee: $150. Instructor: J. Lerner [Prereq: MS 82 or equivalent. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

A survey of both popular and elite visual arts in Mexico from the time of Independence to today, including painting, prints, murals, sculpture and, more recently, film and video. Emphasis will be placed on the interchanges between media and the understanding of visual culture as a reflection of social changes. Instructor: J. Lerner [Media History]

This survey of the evolution of Mexican media extends from the first Edison to contemporary video art. Special attention will be paid to the avant-garde and other marginalized cinemas in relation to other art forms, experimental filmmakers from other countries working in Mexico and the Mexican film industry. Instructor: J. Lerner [Media History]

Studies the history of American broadcasting from the diffusion of radio as a mass media through the transition to television, up to the development of television as the dominant broadcasting form. Students will begin to understand the impact of U.S. broadcasting by familiarizing themselves with key programs and trends. Instructor: T. MacLean [Media History]

An intermediate production course that engages with media practices outside of the traditional single-channel film or videotapes made for broadcast or screening in a theatre. New genres and hybrid media forms including installation, performance, and tactical media are explored through a series of readings, lectures, presentations, and creative assignments in both individual and group projects. Instructor: M-Y. Ma [Prerequisite: Intro-level media production course or relevant intro-level art courses such as installation and photography. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

In this course, students from the visual, performing, and literary arts will come together for creative experimentation and project development through the production of a digital media based installation, performance piece or a film/media project. The course will acquaint students with the characteristics and challenges of collaboration, to teach them the intellectual and behavioral skills of handling a collaborative space, and the communicative tools set forth by exchange of ideas. During the semester students will conceive, develop, write, produce, direct and edit three short digital media projects in a workshop environment.  The course will include a series of practical exercises focusing on story development, creating character, use of locations, actions, situations, and themes. Instructor: C. Dunye [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This hybrid theory and production course provides a hands-on survey of the theoretical foundations and practical techniques for sound design in contemporary music, video, and multimedia projects. Students will gain a proficiency with sound composition and editing in various design and media art disciplines through technical instruction in software for audio and video editing; analysis of design techniques in music, film, video games, and mobile “apps”; and critical discussions regarding the interrelationships between sounds space, and place. Instructor: D’Errico, Michael. [Media History or Intro. Production]

This course examines the theoretical, cultural and aesthetic foundations of remix, mashup, and bricolage techniques in audio-visual art through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Topics include the literary cut-up work of William S. Burroughs, the politics of bricolage in early twentieth century art movements such as Dada and Surrealism, Nam June Palk’s media mashups, and remix practices in contemporary global dance music cultures. Students will develop skills in critically assessing the formal aspects of multimedia art in relation to evolving social and cultural contexts, as well as evaluating and critiquing literature on aesthetics, ethics, and intellectual property in various contemporary media industries. Instructor: D’Errico, Michael. [Media History or Intro. Production]

This course will introduce students to a range of disciplinary and intellectual tools for understanding the media of contemporary US. Theories of media and the new media ecology will form the context for topics such as electoralism and populism; neoliberalism & imperialism; fight for racial, gender and sexual equality; the politics of globalization and anti-globalization; environmentalism; and the cultural formations that lie at the core of these converging issues. Students will be expected to produce their own media projects in dialogue with the mediated images studied in class. Instructor: Esmaeli, Kouross. [Media Theory or Intermediate/Advanced Production]

What can we learn about the Middle East by examining media? What can we learn about media by studying institutions of production and practices of consumption alongside media texts themselves? In this course, we will study the media from the Middle East: Iran, Turkey, and the Arab world from Iraq to Egypt including Palestine/Israel. We will study primarily traditional media such as film, television, and music that have played a role in consolidating, contesting, and complicating colonial and postcolonial states and patriarchal norms as well as new media such as satellite and internet-based platforms that have been central to the Arab Revolts and other recent political movements. Instructor: Esmaeli, Kouross. [Media History]

This course integrates the theory and history of editing with instruction in on-line non-linear video editing. Reading and viewing assignments will complement hands-on editing exercises. Instructor: G: Lamb [Prereq: MS 82. Course fee: $150. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This is an historical survey of Asian American involvement in media production, beginning with the Silent Film Era and ending with contemporary projects in film, video, and new media. In this course, we will focus on the shifting yet continuous participation of Asians in the production of media in North America, and look at how changing political, social, and cultural discourses have shaped media representations of Asians throughout this period. Instructor: M. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent, or PI AA 90 or PI AA 101 or CMC HIST 125. Media History]

This course focuses on the exhibition and distribution of Asian American independent media, and explores how it can mobilize, educate, and empower communities.  Working in small groups, students will engage in service-learning projects in collaboration with local non-profit community partners.  Through these collaborations, they will learn to design and execute screenings, exhibitions, and other media events in diverse Southern California communities based on programs from the Asian Americans in Media (AAIM) Film Festival, curated by the students in MS100: Asian Americans in Media.  They will also learn to assess the impact of their programs and perform follow-up with community partners.  A parallel course of study is designed to supplement student’s hands-on experiential learning with the historical knowledge of the exhibition and distribution of Asian American independent media from the 1970s to the present—studying Asian American film festivals and media organizations—as well as with the praxis of critical pedagogy, theories of social change and media activism, and case studies on how media can inspire and facilitate community building. Instructor: M. Ma.  Although it is not required, students who have taken MS100 will be given priority for enrollment. This course also fulfills Pitzer Media Studies’s community-engagement / internship requirement, as well as IDAAS’s Asian American Studies major and minor community studies requirement. Prerequisites: MS49, 50, or 51; ASAM125, 150, or 91. [Media History or Media Theory] 

In September 2017, the Getty Foundation will launch ‘Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles/ Latin America’, a collaboration among cultural institutions from across Southern California exploring the artistic connections between Los Angeles and Latin America, the relationships between Latin America and the rest of the world, and the history of exchange among Latin American countries and the Latin American diaspora. This unique class will largely take place off-site with weekly field trips to these exhibitions, where students will be able to hear first hand accounts of the exhibitions from the curators responsible for conceptualizing these shows. Instructor(s): Lerner, Jesse; Ennis, Ciara. [Elective] 

An interdisciplinary introduction to the use of sound in video games, exploring the historical evolution of sound design in games, the affordances and constraints of game platforms on musical composition, and the relationship between concepts such as sound, play, and performance in disciplines such as digital media studies, game studies, and sound studies. Instructor: D’Errico, Michael. [Media History or Intro. Production]

In this course we examine Michel Foucault’s work on modern forms of power and its connection to the production of knowledge.  In “Discipline and Punish,” Foucault argues that modern panoptic techniques of surveillance have produced a universal normative gaze that each of us internalizes, and though which we become, as he puts it, “docile bodies.”   In his later work he complicates this argument by contending that the confessional operates as a blueprint for the operation of what he calls “bio-power,” which, through the scientific “liberation” of bodies, shapes them at both an individual and social level. Instructor: Henry Krips [Media Theory]

This course is an intermediate/advanced-level course examining the intersections between media theory and the study of sexuality. In exploring issues including transgenderism, pornography, censorship, feminism, queer cinema, and representations of race and sexuality, this course focuses on compelling case studies that provide students with specific understanding of the prevailing debates and defining theories of sexuality within media studies. Please note: Students must be aged 18 and above to enroll in this course. Instructors: A. Juhasz/M-Y. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Media Theory; G/U]

This course critically examines the photograph as artifact, art, evidence, and weapon. Section 1 looks at photographs through the works of key theorists. Section 2 introduces the anthropology of photography as a social practice, including its relation to colonialism, race, and the global circulation of representations. Section 3 hones in on African photography. Section 4 analyzes current trends, including the role of the photograph in journalism, art, indigenous activism, and the digital era. Instructor: R. Talmor [Prereq: one previous Media Studies or Anthropology course. Media History or Media Theory]

Life today is saturated by various kinds of media. In the last two decades, a new field—the ethnography of media—brings anthropology’s cross-cultural perspective and attention to everyday reality to studies of media and theorizes media as constituting new spaces of community and self-making in a globalized world. Instructor: R. Talmor [Media Theory]

This course explores issues that shape African masculinities as these are expressed in film. Beginning with the premise that masculinities are plural, processual, and dialogic, we will investigate the ways African men enact and experience their masculinity in contexts of colonialism, national liberation, and neoliberalism, in relations between youth and elders, between men and men, between men and women, and between Africans and foreigners. Instructor: R. Talmor [Media Theory]

An intermediate level media history and theory course exploring how sound functions in cinema. Topics covered by the course include the history of sound technologies, film sound theories, voice in cinema, film music, sound recording and reproduction in film. Instructor: M. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51; or some introductory level music theory courses. [Media Theory or Media History, G/U]

This course will explore different aspects in the emergent discourse on aural culture. The current topic, soundscape, examines spatial approaches to the study of sound, including aural architecture, noise, sonic ecology, and other related subjects. Instructor: M. Ma [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51; or some introductory level music theory courses. Media Theory]

Our world has become increasingly screen-dependent. This course will examine screen culture in a multitude of formats, from movie screen to mobile phones and everything in between.  It is particularly focused on the relationship of technological development to evolving modes of spectatorship in a historical and theoretical context. Instructor: E. Affuso [Prereq: one intro media studies course such as MS 49, 50, or 51. Media History]

New media forms have changed the face of the celebrity/fan relationship in the last decade providing a level of interactivity previously unavailable. This course will situate this shift within a historical and theoretical survey of fandom and celebrity from the birth of the Hollywood Studio System until the present day. Instructor: E. Affuso [Media History]

The world has been interconnected for centuries. A great way to see this is through visual culture as a sphere of political action and critique. Centering Africa and the African diaspora, we look at art, film and other forms that comment upon identity, experience, intercultural contact, and the politics of representation. Instructor: R. Talmor [Media Theory or Media History]

An intermediate digital media production course utilizing Processing, computer vision, the Arduino, and hobby servomotors to produce robotic artworks. This course explores critical thinking on the origins of the robot concept, context for robot production, the potential to reshape our future robotic cohabitants? genesis, and robots in relation to environmental stewardship. Instructor: I. Ingram [Prereq: MS 49, 50, or 51, or ART 37, 57, or 103, or EA 10. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This course will consider how social media is impacting personal communication, consumption practices, and media industries. Through case studies of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, and related spaces students will theorize the role of interactivity in contemporary popular culture. This class will consider how social media impacts narrative form, political engagement, performance of self, and cultural conceptions of reading/authorship. In addition to discussing the media industry’s use of social media platforms as sites of promotion, participation, and surveillance, students will produce critical media analyses using these platforms as part of their coursework. Prereq: MS 49, 50, or MS 51. Instructor: Affuso, Elizabeth. [Media History or Media Theory] 

“Self care” has become a ubiquitous buzzword attached to an enormous variety of practices (including social media and celebrity, entrepreneurship, and the fitness, wellness, and food industries) and has reshaped notions of leisure, work, health, and travel. At the same time, scholars, journalists, and activists have criticized this term as a rebranding of preexisting exclusionary practices around ability, shape and size, access to healthcare and food, and economic position. Positioning this term within a variety of theoretical modes– including media studies, anthropology, global health, disability studies, fat studies, and critical theory,–this class will unpack the cultural politics of the term. Prereqs: MS 49 or MS 50 or MS 51 or LIT 103 or ANTH 002 or ANTH 011. Instructor: Affuso, Elizabeth ; Talmor, Ruti [Media Theory] 

This course will critically examine trends in feminist scholarship and popular culture in the last twenty years to examine what happens when feminism becomes “trendy.” Using case studies from media representation, blogs, advertising, and social media—such as #metoo, girlboss, girl power, and flawless—this course will interrogate how the positioning of feminism as a brand upholds the structural systems it seeks to undermine. We will use these case studies to think about the ways popular feminist discourse positions intimate relationships, the domestic, the workplace, and social interactions in the contemporary moment and what they expose about the position of women worldwide. Prerequisites: MS 049 and MS 050 and MS 051 or LIT 030. Instructor: Affuso, Elizabeth [Media Theory]

Course examines the way media producers of Muslim and MidEastern background are representing themselves in contemporary American Media. We will look at history of representations of Islam and MidEast in order to understand how filmmakers, TV producers, social media influencers & celebrities are defining their identity today. The course will also study what it means to “self represent” in general and study examples of feminist and queer self-representation and the way these identities intersect with Islamic and Mid Eastern identity. In the process we will see how being “Muslim”, “Middle Eastern”, and “American” are being redefined in our contemporary mediascape. First-years require instructor permission. [Media History or Media Theory]

Production and theory course exploring the use of web for micro distribution, video exchange projects, and innovative communication/activism projects online. Students will work together to establish a video web site with discussion board and carry out an exchange/distribution project with LA youth inner-city groups and possibly international student/youth partners. Making direct contact with exchange partners is key. There will be regular readings and web presentations on developments in new media arts. Students will learn to compress video for web and basic web design. Emphasis will be on how media communication forms are changing and how we can utilize personal media and online exchange to learn more about ourselves and others. Working in groups or individually, students will implement hands-on media production projects with local non-profit and social service agencies. Students will culminate projects with an end of semester event for all participating groups. Instructor: G. Lamb [Fee: $150. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

A massively distributed collaborative learning forum and archive on the topic of feminism and technology taught by 28 international scholars, taken by students all over the world, and co-sponsored by Pitzer College and USC. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Media Theory]

What can YouTube teach us, and is this how, what, and all we’d like to learn? Over its hundred year history, radical media theorists have looked with utopian zeal to a moment in the media future which turns out to be upon us: a time where access to the production and distribution of media is democratically available outside channels organized by capital. So why is the technology being used primarily to spoof mainstream media forms, and what does this tells us about the media, our society, and political possibility? Instructor: A. Juhasz [Media History]

This hyper/in/visibility of the feminist in digital spaces is the (non)place, and yet somehow also the very real location, of a course that will consider—by reading, using, and making—the nowhere and everywhere of feminism in on-line, user-generated, social networked spaces of web 2.0. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Media Theory]

We will consider the making, saving, sharing, using, and re-purposing of collections of media documents. The camera documents. Once archived, these images and sounds are used as testimony and evidence, to make history. The internet, a meta media archive, holds many traditional archives as well as the new people-made archives-of-ourselves constructed thrugh the networked holdings of blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and the like. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Media History or Media Theory; G/U]

The course is based on the premise that television has been discussed as a monolithic presence in its cultural setting far more frequently than cinema or literary forms. In response, we will consider how television is made up of distinct modes—some historically sequential, some simultaneous. Key genres that will be discussed include: live drama, mini-series, sitcom, soap opera, sketch comedy, game show, science fiction, variety, news & reality. We will also engage with intermedia studies—developing close and critical readings of how television engages with radio and film in its use of genre. We will draw on theoretical approaches to television as well as close readings of texts. Instructor: T. MacLean [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51, equivalent or permission from instructor. Media History or Media Theory; G/U]

Digital Cinema is an intermediate/advanced video course, exploring the creative potential of digital video techniques, such as compositing, animation, and motion graphics. Students develop digital projects and participate in critiques. Lectures, discussions, and screenings enhance students’ exposure to art and cinema. Instructor: S. Hutin [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This course will focus on performative animation techniques, or post-animative thought. Through screenings and hands-on in-class experiments, student will look at animation as it exists outside of cartoon culture and gaming to create a variety of tests that challenge the way we look at frame by frame filmmaking. Instructor: S. Hutin [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Senior Seminar. Jointly-taught seminar designed for senior majors. Review of key issues/theories in media studies. Instructor: Talmor, Ruti [Senior Seminar]

Student designed media studies project involving advanced readings in theory, history or aesthetics with written analysis. May be taken twice for credit. Instructor: Staff [Designation dependent on topic]

Working in groups or individually, students will implement hands-on media production projects with local non-profit and social service agencies. Students will culminate projects with an end of semester event for all participating groups. Collaboration will be a key component with Pitzer Ontario Project, CORE Partners of CCCSI including Kaos Network and the Women’s Multimedia Center. Course fee: $150. Instructor: Fall, G. Lamb [Prereq: MS 82, or Art 120 (PZ) or Art 141 (SC) or by permission. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Internship in media related industry or institution integrated with significant and clear connection to academic curriculum through independent written or production project. May be taken twice for credit. Pass/NC only. Instructor: Staff. [Elective]

Political people and communities have often used the media to contribute to social change within the context of and in dialogue with theoretical and political traditions. As we study these moments in media history (e.g., Soviet montage, Third Cinema, feminist film, queer cinema, hip hop), we will ourselves be engaged in something similar: a semester-long community-based media project in Ontario. We will look at moments in film history where artists created socially conscious art while also attempting to theorize this practice. We will read this writing and view its associated work, and we will discuss what we can gain for our own practices in Ontario from their experiences, ideas, and images. Then, we will make and theorize our own media praxis. Instructor: A. Juhasz [Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent, and 82. Media Theory or Intermediate/Advanced Production; G/U]

Student-designed media production project involving advanced production and post-production skills, adequate pre-production research, and writing component. Instructor: Staff [Prerequisite: MS 82. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

For nearly 50 years, the Cold War influenced nearly all aspects of American political and cultural life. This course examines Cold War genre films in an effort to understand how Americans perceived the Soviet threat and how these popular perceptions influenced international and domestic politics. The films of the Cold War represent important historical artifacts because they provide a window into the American mind by capturing the anxieties, optimism and ambivalence of the American public. It is the aim of this course for students to develop an understanding of the nexus between art and politics and in the process become familiar with key international and domestic political events of the Cold War era. Instructor: Adrian D. Pantoja [Media History]

This course will investigate the influences and impacts of political communication across the globe. It will examine political communication strategies, and the shifts in technology, media, and tactics giving voice to new political actors. The course will also endeavor to uncover how information and communications technology impact political change, social protest, and collective action. Instructor: J. Busacca [Elective]

This course will explore the narratives, politics and representations of inequality across a number of key sociological variables that include social class distinctions, caste, colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism, and their intersections with race, ethnicity, nationalism, war, sexuality, freedom, and political repression in their historical, economic, and social context. Instructor: D. Basu [Elective]

This course explores popular music and society with an emphasis on audio visual media. It emphasizes the societal conditions in which particular genres of popular music emerge; the role of the visual in music consumption and production; issues of authenticity and appropriation; the production and consumption of popular music globally; and the political and social implications of popular music as it affects, and is affected by, class, gender, race, sexuality, diasporic movements and local-global tensions. Instructor: D. Basu [Elective]

This course offers an introduction to the processes underlying social and spatial differentiation, with particular reference to race, gender, sexuality and class. We examine how social difference and social inequalities are constituted through space, not just expressed spatially. Cross-listed with Africana Studies. Instructor: D. Basu [Elective]

The course draws upon a wide range of disciplinary orientations that examine the theories of urban life and representations of urban places and their cultures through literature, websites, maps, architecture, photography, documentary, film, popular art, music and advertising in local and international cities. It synthesizes visual and literary analysis of urban history and culture with the political economy of urbanization to: introduce you to influential works on the city, city cultures and representations or urban life; provide research skills in visual sociology and its application to city life and cultures; and simulate and act as a foundation for those going to/returning from the external studies site for Darjeeling/Nepal. Instructor: D. Basu [Elective]

An introductory writing class that emphasizes the use of narrative techniques in the production of literary nonfiction. Students write frequent sketchbook entries and at least five major projects including the memoir, personal essay and literary journalism pieces. Writing workshops give them the opportunity to benefit from the constructive feedback of their professor and classmates before rewriting drafts. Readings for the course encourage creative generation of ideas, suggest strategies for crafting and polishing story structure and style and provide a wide range of models by professional writers. Instructor: J. Sullivan [Elective]

The course provides students the opportunity to experiment with a variety of journalistic subjects, voices, and styles in forms that include news, feature, profile, and opinion writing. In addition to studying excellent models and reviewing media ethics, students will explore strategies for developing and researching topics and building effective stories for diverse audiences. Workshops will provide them with extensive and constructive critiques of their drafts. Students interested in writing for campus publications are encouraged to enroll. Instructor: L. Peterson [Elective]

Introduction to the theoretical and practical contributions of African-American feminists who maintain that issues of race, gender, sexuality and social class are central, rather than peripheral, to any history, analysis, assessment, or strategy for bringing about change in the United States. Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory] 

Exploration of issues surrounding international tourism and travel. Case studies of tourism around the world. Topics include ethnic tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism, heritage tourism, sex tourism and tourist culture. Critical examination of tourism discourse with the aim of providing skills for informed travel. Instructor: R. Fletcher [Elective]

Social and cultural nature of media. Special attention to problems of value and influence in aesthetic, moral and political terms, in news reporting and commentary, sitcoms and movies, advertising uses of media in education. Instructor: L. Thomas. [Elective]

Survey of African art and architecture exploring ethnic and cultural diversity. Emphasis on the social, political and religious dynamics that foster art production at specific historic moments in West, Central and North Africa. Critical study of Western art historical approaches and methods used to study African arts. Instructor: P. Jackson [Elective]

The seminar centers on post-colonial African films to examine (re)presentations of the people, arts, cultures and socio-political histories of Africa and its Diaspora. Course critically examines the cinematic themes, aesthetics, styles and schools of African and African Diasporic filmmakers. Offered alternate years. Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory] 

Course examines documentary films and videos created by filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora (United States, Britain and Caribbean). Topics include: history and aesthetics of documentary filmmaking, documentary as art, the narrative documentary, docu-drama, cinema vérité, biography, autobiography and historical documentary. Offered alternate years. Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory] 

Examines constructions of Blackness and notions of Black masculinity through study of documentary films and related visual arts representing key musical innovators of the African diaspora. Explores the aesthetic influence of musical genres (e.g., spirituals, ragtime, blues, jazz, folk, gospel, rock and roll, soul, funk, reggae, Afrobeat, mbalax, disco, opera, hip hop, rap and neo-soul) on the interdependent visual vocabularies of arts movements, values of political movements and representational codes of popular commodity culture from 1900 to present. Letter grade only. Instructor: Jackson, Phyllis J. [Media Theory] 

Examines visual arts and cultural criticism produced by women from Africa and the African Diaspora (North America, Caribbean and Europe). Students analyze aesthetic values, key representational themes, visual conventions, symbolic codes and stylistic approaches created from feminism’s spirited love of Blackness, Africaness and justice. Complement to AFRI144A, Black Women Feminism(s) and Social Change. Suggested: previous course in either Africana or Chicano/a or Gender and Women’s Studies. Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory] 

Theories of art history in modern times, from Hegel to Schnaase, Semper, Riegl, and Wölfflin to Warburg and Panofsky, and to the Frankfurt School (Benjamin and Adorno). Postmodern challenges to traditional art historiography. Instructor: J. Emerick [Not open to first-year students. Art History]

Survey of the visual arts produced by people of African descent in the U.S. from the colonial era to the present. Emphasis on Black artists’ changing relationship to African arts and cultures. Examines the emergence of an oppositional aesthetic tradition that interrogates visual constructions of “blackness” and “whiteness,” gender and sexuality as a means of revisioning representational practices. Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory]

A comparative analysis of artistic production in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in the 20th and 21st centuries. Examines issues of race, class, and gender and the relationships between artistic theories and practices, economic developments, and social and political movements (e.g. the Mexican Revolution, the Depression, the Women’s Movement). Instructor: F. Pohl [Art History]

Explores evolution of the photographic image in documentary work, portraiture, aesthetic expression, journalism, and advertising from its inception to the present time. Instructor: K. Howe [Art History or Media History]

Examines ways in which North American (Canada, the U.S. and Mexico) artists have used their work in the 20th and 21st centuries to engage in political activism, either on the street through performances and protests, or at specific physical and/or virtual sites through murals, paintings, posters, prints, sculptures, installations or websites. Instructor: F. Pohl [Art History or Elective]

Intensive investigation of a variety of topics relating to the production and reception of art in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Topic: Art and Activism. Instructor: F. Pohl [Art History or Elective]

Interrogation of linguistics, conceptual and practical solipsisms that contribute to the construction and normalization of “Whiteness” in aesthetics, visual culture and cultural criticism. Questions dialects of “Blackness” and “Whiteness” that dominate Western intellectual thought and popular culture, thereby informing notions and visual representations of race, gender, sexuality, class and nationality. Letter grade only. Instructor: Jackson, Phyllis J. [Media Theory]

Technological developments over the past 200 years have altered relations between art and time. How has moving from painting to lithography, photography, film and digital media influenced the creation of art and its relation to beholders? Considering North America and Europe since 1800, we explore relations between still and moving images, and ask how artists manipulate our experience of time. Alongside mainstream forms, we examine wax museums, natural history dioramas, stereographs, tableaux vivants, and MTV. The seminar constitutes a brief history of making and looking at images. Instructor: A. Reed [Media Theory or Art History; G/U]

The development of digital technologies has transformed our understanding of representation. Central to this transformation has been a shift away from the semiotic analysis of imagery towards a more phenomenological understanding of the image. This course returns to the “post-photography” debates of the later 1980s to trace the development of these ideas and their impact on contemporary art practices. Instructor: M. Shurkus [Art History]

Examines the role of law constructing and maintaining racialized, gendered and classed disparates of justice, as well as the intellectual, aesthetic, scientific and political convergences of critical jurisprudence with representational practices in African Diasporic visual arts. Prerequisites: Completion of one of the Black Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano Studies or Gender and Women’s Studies courses. Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory]

An interdisciplinary interrogation of linguistics, conceptual and practical solipsisms that contribute to the construction and normalization of whiteness in aesthetics, art, visual culture, film and mass media. Course questions dialectics of “Blackness” and “Whiteness” that dominate Western intellectual thought and popular culture, thereby informing historical and contemporary notions and representations of race, gender, sexuality and class. Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory]

Documentary films (weapons for mind decolonization) by human rights advocates offer critical narratives effectively silenced by the blare of commercial mass media and post-9/11 nationalism. This study of visual culture and representational theories is for global villagers eager to raise their historical awareness, deconstruct the rhetoric of power elites, debunk the conceits of imperialism, and dismantle the deceits of transnational corporations. Course promotes active spectatorship, courage as the antidote to fear, and anti-war activism (see: https://costofwar.com/index.html) Instructor: P. Jackson [Media Theory or Media History]

Chicano art as an autonomous offspring of Mexican art. The influence of Mexican muralists and other Mexican artists depicting the dramatic changes brought by the revolution. Instructor: P. Botello [Elective] 

A basic photographic course emphasizing all aspects of black and white film exposure, development, and printing. Classes develop technical and conceptual expertise, knowledge of historic and contemporary directions in the field, and an ability to make extended, personal statements in the medium. Equipment needed: camera; tripod useful but optional. Instructor: Staff [Intro. Production]

Introduction to creative and conceptual strategies for artists working in the area of digital art. Readings and lectures provide a historical, technical and conceptual framework, while studio practice introduces computer- and network-based methods of art production. Formerly taught as Digital Art I. Instructor: M. Allen [Intro. Production]

Computer Programming for Art looks at the strategies and techniques for using programming in the creation of algorithmic, interactive, networked and electronic art work. Computer programming fundamentals are applied to aesthetic and cultural concerns through assignments and student-directed projects. Instructor: M. Allen [Prereq: Art 21 or equivalent class. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Image making, using color photography and computer graphics, focus on traditional and non-traditional approaches to making art. Course is designed to build the student’s creative and conceptual abilities, and includes field trips and readings in critical theory. Each fall. Instructor: Staff [Prereq: ART 20, Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Explores approaches to visual documentation through in-depth group photo/text projects. Includes black and white and color photography, computer generation of image/text pages, and practice in “reading” of photographic images in the news media, advertising and the photographic essay.  [Prereq: ART 20, Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Students make projects, both photographic and computer generated, to construct meaning in both traditional and non-traditional venues. Photographic images, both historic and contemporary, will be studied to explore social, political class and gender implications. [Elective] 

Advanced seminar on the artistic practice of installation and other non-traditional art forms, e.g., performance art, earthy art, and public art. Studio projects that investigate elements of installation such as space, light, scale, context, and materials. Discussion, slides, videos, visits to art sites, and critical readings. Instructor: M. Teixido [Elective] 

Introduction to the field of computer science using the object-oriented language Java. Topics include iteration and recursion, basic data structures, sorting and searching, elementary analysis of algorithms and a thorough introduction to object-oriented programming. Special emphasis on graphics, animation, event-driven programming and the use of concurrency to make more interesting programs. Each semester. Instructor: T. Chen [Elective]

Introduction to the field of computer science using the object-oriented language Java. Topics include iteration and recursion, basic data structures, sorting and searching, elementary analysis of algorithms and a thorough introduction to object-oriented programming. Special emphasis on graphics, animation, event-driven programming and the use of concurrency to make more interesting programs. No previous programming experience required. The topics will be introduced using Java as the vehicle. Students must take the lab associated with this section only. Previously offered as CSCI051 PO. Course is equivalent to CSCI051G PO, CSCI051P PO, CSCI030 PO, and CSCI005 HM. Seniors & Juniors by PERM only. Instructor: Roshanaei, Mahnaz. [Elective]

A solid foundation in functional programming, procedural and data abstraction, recursion, and problem-solving. Applications to key areas of computer science, including algorithms and complexity, computer architecture and organization, programming languages, finite automata, and computability. Instructor: E. Bull [Prereq: CSCI 51. Elective]

Practice in a literary form, with some attention to technical theory and to the creative process. [Prereq: permission of the instructor. Elective]

Looks at the explosion of popular culture from the end of the Civil War to World War II via primary texts (advertising, popular and canonical novels, magazines, etc.) and feminist and cultural theory. Examines the ways that U.S. demographics — Black, European immigrant, working class, female, male and adolescent — were both shaped by the popular discourses and the period.Instructor: K. Tompkins [Elective]

Investigates narrative as a fundamental mode of understanding and organizing human experience. Practice of storytelling in writers like Calvino, Diderot, Kundera, Borges, Proust, Kafka, Dante, Sterne, Woolf and Sartre; and in filmmakers like Lynch, Hitchcock, Roeg, Mallek and Allen. Theories of narrative from Aristotle through Freud to Barthes. Instructor: A. Reed [Elective] 

Examines various genres of graphic narratives as literary products, with an eye toward understanding the interacting of images and text in the construction of meaning. Topics may include the history of the medium; economic factors; definitional tensions; differences in conventions between genres; and pop culture vs. high culture. Prerequisite: English 067 or an introductory Media Studies course. Offered alternate years. Instructor: M. Worley [Elective] 

An overview of contemporary literature and film with particular attention to representations of African cosmologies as fields of resistance. Instructor: V. Thomas [Elective]

Looks at the explosion of popular culture from the end of the Civil War to World War II via primary texts (advertising, popular and canonical novels, magazines, etc.) and feminist and cultural theory. Examines the ways that U.S. demographics – Black, European immigrant, working class, female, male and adolescent – were both shaped by the popular discourses and the period.Instructor: K. Tompkins [Elective]

Introduction to the tasks and problems of contemporary literary theory. Readings drawn primarily from structuralism and post structuralism. Offered alternate years. Instructor: P. Mann [Media Theory]

From the evolution of writing through the Chinese invention of paper and printing, medieval illumination, Inca quipu, the printing industry in Europe, copyright, the Brazilian cordel and the politics of literacy, up to speculations about the future of the book. Hands-on work in Special collections. Instruction: M. Worley [Media History]

Student’s own work is principal content of the course; class meets weekly to read and discuss it. Occasionally other readings. Enrollment limited to 15. [Elective]

A study of the intellectual, artistic and social life of Paris portrayed in films, paintings, songs, poetry and cultural texts. Essay, discussion and presentations, collective computer Web project on special topic: music, painting, photography and poetry. Authors and filmmakers include Baudelaire, de Beauvoir, Ernaux, Truffaut, Varda and Kassaovitz. Instructor: M. Saigal [Prereq: FREN 44, Elective]

A study of the political, psychological and cultural aspects, as well as the role of men and women in films. Emphasis on oral and written expression through discussion, essays and oral presentations. Different filmmakers each year, including Truffaut, Godard, Poirier, Diane Kurys and Pagnol. Creation of a Web page as a final project. Instructor: M. Saigal [Prereq: FREN 44, Elective]

This film course investigates the dichotomy of individuals in their society at crucial moments in German history. Uses film and criticism from the 1920s to the present. Instructor: H. Rindisbacher [Elective]

This course explores the cultural implications of the use of stereotypes in consumer and popular culture. Provides analyses, historical overview, and theoretical background. Focus on national stereotypes of Germans and Germany. Half-course language component (GERM 189) may be taken in conjunction by students with GERM044 or above. Letter grade or pass/fail. No knowledge of German necessary. Instructor: F. Kronenberg [Media History]

This course examines the use of film to represent history. It will introduce students to the evolution of motion pictures, especially documentaries, which make claims to truth about past events. Beginning with silent films showing historic tableaus through the engaged films of the depression through cinema verite to the controversial political documentaries of today, this course will examine both the history of film and the history presented by film. It will especially examine the methods and problems encountered as filmmakers attempt to create historical narratives of people who have left few visual records. Instructor: V. Silverman [Elective] 

Film evolved at the same time as modern global empires and devastating wars. This course introduces students to the evolution of motion pictures which make claims to truth about these cataclysmic events, with an emphasis on US films and filmmakers. Beginning with silent films showing historic tableaus through the propaganda films of World War II to anti-war films of the 50s and 60s and the controversial political documentaries of today, students will consider both the history of film and the history presented by film. As a final project, students research and propose their own historical film dealing with the US role in the world. Previously offered as HIST122 PO. Instructor: Silverman, Victor I. [Elective] 

Are we purely the product of our environment? Or do we in some way also construct it? This course offers an overview of temporal and spatial concepts discernible in Japanese literature from antiquity to the present, focusing on modern Japan. Other literary traditions will be referenced for comparative purposes. Instructor: K. Kurita [Elective] 

Presents a comprehensive view of the issues important to media studies, including the development of new technologies, visual literacy, ideological analysis, and the construction of content. Students read theory, history and fiction; view films and television programs; and write research and opinion papers. Instructor: J. Friedlander [Intro. Critical]

Film and video can be understood as distinct semiotic systems with their own languages that can be studied from aesthetic, cultural, and historical perspectives. Students learn to analyze silent film, classic Hollywood, avant-garde film and video, as well as documentary, activist, and experimental work. Same as PZ MS 50 / CM LIT 130. Instructor: J. Hall. [Intro. Critical]

An interdisciplinary introduction to digital and electronic media, exploring the relationships between “old” and “new” media forms, the historical development of computer-based communication and the ways that new technologies are reshaping literature, art, journalism and the social world. Instructor: M. Andrejevic [Intro. Critical]

This course examines, in formal, historical, and political perspsective, independent, experimental, and avant-garde film traditions selected from a broad range of visual traditions. Topics vary yearly from the European avant-garde to postwar American 16mm filmmaking, from the rise of video to the radical experimentations in sound. Instructor: J. Hall. [Media History]

Drawing on examples from contemporary mass media and cinema, this course considers the role played by mediated representations in negotiating the aftermath of war and conflict. In particular, the focus will be on the relationship between the media and the emerging field of transitional justice, which deals with past human rights violations and the transition to post-war peace settlements. Thus, the course deals with questions and dilemmas that arise in countries emerging from violent rule. Specifically, we will ask, what is the role of media in dealing with the traumatic past? We explore diverse topics, such as the causes of ethnic violence, celebrity activism, the potential of (media) humanitarianism, so-called “dark tourism,” the mediatisation of war, and transitional justice strategies. We also examine the complex relationships/intersections between gender, media, violence and peace, with an emphasis on contemporary and recent conflicts (including the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and South Africa). Instructor: V. Zala [Media History]

Explores issues of race, class and justice as they develop in the context of cause celebre criminal trials. Trials and executions have long been staples of imparting cultural values and major venues of public spectacle. In this course special attention will be given to the effect of mass media on public perceptions on notable cases. The class examines the Scottsboro Boys trial of the 1930s, the Rodney King Beating Trials of 1992, the trials of OJ Simpson in 1995 and 1997, and the Duke Lacrosse prosecution of 2006. To paraphrase Professor Darnell Hunt of UCLA: “How, in a period of US history marked by pressing economic, foreign policy and civil justice concerns, [could these cases] become such a national obsession?” Instructor: L. Fynn [Media History]

Studies the history of American broadcasting from the diffusion of radio as a mass media through the transition to television, up to the development of television as the dominant broadcasting form. Students will begin to understand the impact of U.S. broadcasting by familiarizing themselves with key programs and trends. Instructor: M. Shurkus [Media History]

Television is now at the forefront of political and aesthetic culture in a way that used to be reserved strictly for film, literature, and visual art. Seizing this contemporary moment of TV’s (seemingly) widespread culture legitimation, this course examines the historical development of television study, focusing on concepts such as: flow, immediacy, genre, platform, narrative complexity, liveness, ideology, and bingeing. Letter grade only. Instructor: Engley, Ryan [Media History or Media Theory] 

Introduces the cinemas of Asia. May include cinemas of East Asia, South Asian and/or the Middle East. Film and video are considered in political, social, and theoretical contexts. Instructor: J. Hall [Media History]

The Pomona Media Guild is open to all Pomona College students engaged in research projects where video is a tool for investigation and/or presentation. Students learn basic pre- and post-production video skills (pre- and post-production) in addition to project mapping, interview techniques, and the ethics and aesthetics of creative visual research. By application only. Half credit. [Elective]

This course provides students with the intellectual framework and critical vocabulary to examine video games as media texts via aesthetics: the value of gameplay experiences and how we fit them into our lives. How do we play, and why? The course will also address questions of politics: how can games shape, and how are they shaped by, the current of public life? Who gets to play, particularly along lines of race, gender, sexuality, and class? Live and recorded gameplay demonstrations will provide students with the material for criticism and inquiry, alongside contemporary critical games writing that will serve as models for their own writing projects. Participants do not need previous experience with games or computers, but only a willingness to engage with games and gameplay within a critical context. Prerequisites: MS 049 PO or MS 050 PO or MS 051 PO or MS 092 PO. Instructor: Moralde, Oscar John Arellano [Media History or Media Theory]

This course focuses on theoretical questions regarding the “two”: the social tie, friendship, confession, and the relationship between the individual subject and the group. This class will ground its inquiry in the fundamental question: what do we make of the encounter between the one and an(other)? To answer this, we will examine a challenging set of philosophical texts and a range of media that revolve around the intersubjective relation (or non-relation) of two central characters or figures. Objects of study will include Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s television series Fleabag, Season 1 of Sarah Koenig’s podcast Serial and Fumito Ueda’s classic minimalist video game Ico. Letter grade only. Pre-requisites: MS 049 PO or MS 050 PO or MS 051 PO or MS 092 PO or equivalents. Instructor: Engley, Ryan. [Media Theory]

The focus of this course is on representations of violence on screens and its widespread consumption. Through a range of theoretical texts and in conjunction with detailed analysis of select films and media, this course examines and debates the various, competing accounts of depicting, disseminating, and consuming images of violence. How did the omnipresence of scenes of violence on screens become a transnational phenomenon? Why does it have the power to move, excite or titillate us? What is our responsibility to images of violence, if any? These are some of the questions we will address as we chart the history of screening violence from early film and media to the present. Letter grade only. Instructor: Wynter, Kevin [Media History]

This course explores how in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, masculinity has served as a constant (and constantly shifting) object of cultural fantasy, inextricable from the changing ways we understand and imagine gender, sex, class, race, and nation. Precisely because, in the US and Europe, white masculinity has named a position (or fantasy) of cultural dominance; one often confused with the ostensibly “universal.” We will focus especially on the minoritarian and situated perspectives on masculinity opened up by nonwhite, trans, queer, and/or feminist writers, theorists, and film-makers. Instructor: Staff [Advanced Theory]

Close study of film and television depictions of sex and violence, with parallel readings from primary Western sources such as Solomon, Freud, Machiavelli, Clausewitz, Marx and Nietzsche. Special attention paid to conscious reiteration (by filmmakers such as Hitchcock, Ophuls, Coppola and Scorsese) of classic ideas on sex and violence. Instructor: R. Blackwood [Elective]

A close examination of theories of media analysis, with an emphasis on the visual arts (painting, photography, film, video, installation art, performance art, conceptual art, art museums). Topics change from year to year. Course may be repeated for credit as topics vary. Prerequisite: one media studies or art history course.  Instructor: J. Friedlander [Media Theory]

The body is more than just flesh and blood; it is a social and cultural entity shaped by a variety of factors. This course will investigate some of the many ways in which bodies have been constructed and interpreted in culture, focusing particularly on the bodies in states of flux—diseased, dying, gestating, etc. Instructor: L. Mullens [Media Theory]

This class examines the complex and even contradictory notion of “politics” as it is used to describe the contents, contexts and consequences of mass media.  Drawing on political economy, critical cultural theory, and social movement theory, the course aims to address questions like these: What makes the media powerful?  And who bears the burden of representation?  Students will also create media projects—short films, zines, blogs, etc.— in order to contend with these questions materially from the standpoint of a producer. Instructor: C. Snorton [Media Theory]

Traditionally, the notion of the virtual referred to something unreal. Yet, along with the development of digital technologies our understanding of “the actual” and the body’s perceptual capacities has transformed. Drawing on philosophical and cultural theories, we will investigate virtuality and the body’s capacities to apprehend and process virtual information. Instructor: M. Shurkus [Media Theory]

In the Humanities, Realism has been criticized for impressing upon audiences the illusion that they are watching real life events unfold spontaneously before their eyes—an illusion which takes on a politically conservative role as a vehicle for the circulation of dominant ideological meanings. In the sciences, by contrast, Realism has attracted far more favorable reviews: for example, Einstein writes that “If one renounces this assumption [of Realism] then I do not see what physics is supposed to describe.” In this course we will examine the interplay between these two attitudes to Realism. In particular we will suggest that it is possible to recuperate a politically progressive role for Realism as an aesthetic-representational form. Letter grade only. Instructor: J. Friedlander [Prereq: MS 49, 50 or 51. Media Theory]

Right now millions of people across the globe are playing video games. Once considered a fad that largely served a niche market primarily composed of teen-age boys, video games have completely infiltrated culture and become a hugely profitable industry. In 2008 Americans alone spent over $11 billion on gaming! It all began in 1961 in a basement room at MIT when the first volley of “Spacewar!” silently crashed into an enemy spaceship. Or did it begin the pinball arcades of the 1940s? One of the questions we will take up in this course is what constitutes a game and the phenomenon of play. Building on these insights we will explore the ongoing cultural influences and historical development of video games. Central to our investigation will be issues related to gender, race, ludology, narrative and cinematic structures, and much more. Students will be expected to spend several hours reading theory and analyzing video games, which of course will entail playing as well! Instructor: M. Shurkus [Media Theory]

This course considers the social and cultural implications of increasingly pervasive and comprehensive forms of surveillance of all kinds (visual, auditory, data) enabled by emerging digital media. It situates contemporary examples of the mediated forms of surveillance and monitoring in historical and theoretical perspective, drawing on critical theories of the relationship between surveillance, observation, power, and control. The course will explore a range of ways of thinking about the roles of observer and observed as well as the relationship between media technologies and techniques of observation. Instructor: M. Andrejevic [Prereq: MS 49, 50, or 51. Media Theory]

This class draws on the figure of the drone to consider contemporary developments in media theory and practice. It invokes the drone — understood not just as a weaponized device but as forming part of a distributed, mobile, interactive, information network — to explore emerging logics of interactivity, data processing and automation. The course will rely upon critical theory to examine the development of asymmetrical power and remote control associated with drones and will situate the drone within the cultural imaginary, drawing upon the historical relationship between military and media technology. The goal will be to use the figure of the drone to illuminate more general logics of cybernetic control — their fantasies and actualities and the ways in which these relate to historical figures of automata, telepresence and action-at-a-distance. Additionally, the class will explore and critique theoretical developments that anticipate the forms of knowing, sensing and experiencing associated with the figure of the drone. Letter grade only. Instructor: Andrejevic, Mark. [Media Theory] 

This course interrogates John Fiske’s contention that “pleasure may be the bait on the hook of hegemony, but it is always more than this; it always involves an element that escapes the system of power.” With this claim in mind, we will: 1) evaluate key arguments in the field regarding pleasure’s complicity with dominant ideological frameworks–particularly with regard to normative views of gender, race, class and sexuality; 2) consider ways in which the critique of pleasure itself may collude with patriarchal, racist, clasist and heteronormative systems of thought; and 3) explore the possibilities for pleasure to undermine established systems of power. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: MS 049 PO, MS 050 PO, and MS 051 PO. Instructor: Friedlander, Jennifer. [Media Theory]

Ways of seeing and technologies of viewing shape knowledge practices, aesthetic regimes, and power relations. This course takes a thematic approach to theories and technologies of visuality from classical to contemporary practices of viewing. It explores the subjective experience of viewing through class exercises, including a collaboration with visiting Los Angeles artist Hillary Mushkin. The course applies theoretical approaches to visual representations and viewing practices through engagement with artworks, literature, and critical theory. Thinkers covered range from Plato to Renaissance thinkers, and the work of Walter Benjamin, Don DeLillo, Georges Perec, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jonathan Crary, Paul Virilio, Alan Sekula, and Trevor Paglen. Non-Pomona requires PERM. Seniors & Juniors only. Instructor(s): Andrejevic, Mark ; Reed, Arden. [Media Theory]

This course introduces students to the history and theory of global cinema. We will discuss and analyze a variety of filmmakers and film movements from around the globe, ranging from the silent period to the present. We will study voices from East and West cinema, with regards to film language, aesthetics, and politics, as well as their film style and genre. Along the way, we will learn a number of terms and theoretical concepts, including formalism, realism, surrealism, post-colonialism, modernity, postmodernity, and globalization. Letter grade only. Instructor: Connelly, Thomas J. [Media History]

This course develops theoretical approaches to the analysis of film as it enters the digital era. The course starts out with classic film theory and concludes with a consideration of the impact of digitization. Along the way we will learn a number of terms, theoretical concepts and methodological approaches to critically evaluate and analyze fictional films, including formalism, realism, genre, ideology, semiotics, structuralism, psychoanalysis and postmodernism. We will consider the question of how forms of analog film fare in the digital era and what is meant by the pronouncement of the “death of film.” Prerequisites: MS 049 PO, MS 050 PO, or MS 051 PO. Letter grade only. Instructor: Connelly, Thomas J. [Media Theory] 

A rigorous, focused inquiry into the theorists, schools and movements that have set the terms for analysis of contemporary media, including print media, film, television and the Internet. Topics change from year to year; course may be repeated for credit as topics vary. Instructor: K. Fitzpatrick, L. Mullens [Media Theory]

This course traces the theoretical considerations of film from the early 20th century to the present with special attention to the provocative intersection of semiotics, Marxism, and psychoanalysis that defined film theory from the late 1960s through the 1980s. We examine this brief history of film theory alongside the cinema that inspired it and the films it engendered. Prerequisite: MS 50 or equivalent. Instructor: J. Hall [Media Theory]

Examining the creative and critical work of three gay male filmmakers—Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982), and Tsai Mingliang (1957–present) —this seminar probes the intersection of avant-garde cinematic practice, sexuality, and queer theory. Semiotic theories of language and image, hyperbolic reformulations of family romance, and a constant critique of left-liberalism are some of the thematics through which we approach these directors. But we also explore how the work of these filmmakers engages feminist film criticism, how new, queer scholarship has attempted to address the dystopic positions often identified within the gay male film text, and how Pasolini, Fassbinder, and Tsai, each in a different manner, refuse subordination to a sexual hermeneutics. Instructor: J. Hall. [Media Theory or Media History]

This course introduces students to the study of television from an aesthetic, theoretical and critical perspective. Students will learn a number of terms, theoretical concepts and methodological approaches to critically evaluate and analyze television texts, including the language of filmmaking, genre theory, ideology, semioitcs, structuralism, feminism, auteur theory, political economy and audience ethnography. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: MS 049 PO, MS 050 PO, and MS 051 PO. Instructor: Connelly, Thomas J. [Media Theory] 

This course provides an introduction to the scholarship that has developed around video games. Our primary focus will be on the various narrative structures games employ, both within the programmed structures of the game and at the level of interface with players. Readings will include contemporary videogame theory and history. Instructor: M. Shurkus [Media Theory]

For many theorists, the digital era ushered in the second “industrial revolution” and like the first it dramatically transformed human relationships. Taking up the question of the course title, we will begin by exploring Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben’s definitions of an apparatus. Drawing insight from these theorists we will explore how media—Reality TV, various forms of social media, and participatory culture—transmit or hinder our expressions of love and intimacy or what Agamben has called a “shared sensation of being”. Instructor: M. Shurkus [Media Theory]

An in-depth exploration of key texts from psychoanalysis reveals a scandalous relation between desire and representation, namely fantasy. We probe the political life of fantasy and the usefulness of sexuality and the unconscious for conceiving alternative to the hegemony of the normal. Instructor: J. Hall [Media Theory, G/U]

Focuses on ways in which desires and sexualities fail to conform to theories thereof and on those media expressions which engender new theories of desire that are of, about, and from the street. Key conceptual modules include precarity, community media, public fantasy & intimacy, social (in)difference, sex and its legislation, queer street community, and social (il)legibility. The course looks at these terrains in both historical & contemporary and local & global perspectives. The course is strongly tied to community exploration and community partnership with queer, street, and activist precarity in Pomona and Los Angeles. Anarchist, neo-Marxist, and queer materialist positions are emphasized. Street internships, oral histories, educational outreach, and collaborative performance are possible parts of the student experience in this course. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: One course in Media Studies or Gender & Women’s Studies. May be repeated twice for credit. By PERM only. Instructor: Hall, Jonathan Mark [Media Theory]

An overview of core traditions in Critical Media Studies through in-depth engagement with key texts. This course serves as preparation for the Senior Seminar by consolidating a foundation in critical theory. Areas of focus include the following: The Frankfurt School, The Chicago School, Pragmatism, Structuralism and Post-Structuralism, Semiotics, Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, Psychoanalytical Theory, Postcolonial Theory, and Critical Race Theory. Prerequisites: MS 049 PO, MS 050 PO, or MS 051 PO, and one upper level theory class (MS 147 PO – MS 149 PO). Letter grade only. Instructor(s): Friedlander, Jennifer; Andrejevic, Mark. [Media Theory]

The Original Television Series from “The Sopranos” to “Mad Men.”. The course examines the original television series, a prominent development in U.S. television and, more broadly, in American culture during the last decade. We discuss representative texts in this genre, among them The Sopranos, The Wire, and Mad Men, and examine the genre’s distinctive features. We also look at how television series engage with American culture. Instructor: K. Klioutchkine [Prereq: One of the following: MS 49, 50, 51, or 91. Media History]

The Japanese New Wave used sex, violence, and the body to launch a critique of domestic and international policies, high-growth economics, and the conventions of Japanese cinema. We explore the utopic visions of radical Japanese filmmaking and its powerful demonstration against social norms. Prerequisite: MS 50 or equivalent or by permission of instructor. Instructor: J. Hall [Media Theory or Media History]

“Writing Machines” proposes to explore the relationship between contemporary literature and computer technologies, focusing on the ways that new technologies of writing have affected the development and dissemination of narrative. This class works to bring the theory and practice of electronic literature together, meaning that we’ll be combining the standard seminar modes of reading and discussion with hands-on production. Over the course of this semester, we will explore the ways that various scholars have theorized the relationship between the electronic and the literary. We’ll complement those more theoretical readings with a careful look at a range of examples of electronic literature, from early hypertext experiments through contemporary mobile technologies. And over the course of the semester you will do lots of electronic writing, both individually and communally. Instructor: K. Fitzpatrick [Media Theory or Media History; G/U]

This course offers a detailed exploration of film noir from its emergence in the classical Hollywood tradition of the 1940s to the present. We will study film noir’s roots in German Expressionism, Depression-Era gangster movies, and film adaptations of hard-boiled detective fiction. We will also consider the unique cultural factors in post-World War II America that gave rise to film noir and its enduring legacy in the French New Wave, its 1970s revival in American grind-house cinema, and the resurgence of ‘neo-noir’ in contemporary American cinema and abroad. [Media History]

Of all the film genres that partition and divide the products of American cinema, the horror genre has proven to be the most durable and the most easily adaptable to the shifting historical circumstances and socio-political anxieties to which it runs parallel. This course examines some of the key factors that have contributed to the horror genres capacity to maintain its continued viability in popular culture across a wide range of media including graphic novels, video art, and interactive gaming. Beginning with the modern period of the American horror film and then expanding beyond its physical and ideological borders, this course is designed to encourage students to challenge the ideas that have become associated with the term “horror,” and to consider whether some other term or terms may be better suited to describe the types of feelings horror films and its related forms of media actually inspire. We will consider some of the following questions: What is horror? Do horror genre films truly inspire horror or are we, as participants, moved by some other affect or response? Is it possible to locate cinematic representations of horror and its experience outside of the horror genre? [Prerequisites: MS 049 PO, or MS 050 PO, or MS 051 PO or equivalent.] Letter grade only. [Media Theory]

This course surveys the history of the war film. Our focus will center mainly upon Hollywood cinema’s depiction of warfare, but the course also expands beyond American borders to explore the genre in a global context. While the Hollywood war film can often serve as a platform for glorifying armed conflict and celebrating the heroism of the combatant, it has also historically been a site of political and ideological critique, and has served as a barometer of the social mood and public perception of warfare. Throughout the semester we will examine representations of war in cinema across the 20th century and into the 21st century, tracking its impact and its aftermath at the level of the political and social, but also at the level of the subjective and the psychological. We will develop the critical and theoretical frameworks necessary to grapple with aesthetics of violence, reading work from Prince, Massumi, Baurillard, Virilio, Foucault, and Scarry, among others. Topics will include, torture, preemption, genocide, trauma, deterrence, revenge, reintegration and forgiveness. Letter grade only. Prerequisites: MS 050 PO or equivalent. Instructor: Wynter, Kevin. [Media History]

Jointly-taught seminar designed for senior majors. Review of key issues/theories in media studies. Letter grade only. MS majors only. Seniors only. Instructor(s): Andrejevic, Mark; Friedlander, Jennifer ; Tran, Kim-Trang T. ; Ma, Ming-Yuen. [Senior Seminar]

Examines the changing soundscape of popular music genres in the U.S. Includes topics such as the urbanization of blues, the development of Nashville country, the cooption of funk music by rap, the move from guitar rap to grunge and the digitization of pop. Instructor: J. Rockwell [Elective]

A study of the position of sound and music on the boundary between media and content of media. Topics include theories of sound in culture; historical conceptualizations and experiences of sound in early modern Europe and other sites; sound and music in the context of 19th century representational technologies from tableaux vivants, stenography and opera to telephone and phonograph; and film soundtracks. Instructor: A. Cramer [Elective]

Laboratory course designed to develop electronic compositions using techniques of analog and digital synthesis. Permission of instructor required. Instructor: T. Flaherty [Elective]

Explores, from various periods and points of view, the idea of America as: an experiment in republicanism on a scale never before attempted, the New World, a promised land, a frontier space and a dream (albeit often dashed). Examines the shifting images, ideologies and mythologies surrounding the idea of America as portrayed through fiction, film, music, sports, art, poetry and political theory. Instructor: J. Seery [Elective]

Equips the student, already visually oriented from infancy, with ability to monitor and critically interpret political institutions and communications. Explores ways in which news media shape American politics and ways in which politicians seek to influence media. Focuses on effect of the media in specific events. Examines how new communications technologies structure political conflict and decision making. Instructor: L. Flynn [Elective] 

Investigates the question of how we use patterns of physical energy to perceive the world. Covers topics from sensation to cognition, including music, language communication, disorders of perception, attention, unconscious perception and brain mechanisms in cognition. Instructor: W. Banks [Elective]

The Bible appears in film as subject matter, as cultural reference point, and as subtext. Its appearance in film is not neutral; rather it positions viewers either to accept or reject societal systems of dominance. We examine how popular film both takes up and modifies biblical content and symbolism, and to what end. In learning to interpret biblical allusions, subtexts, and narratives in film, we will consider how the Bible is used to uphold, as well as to critique, hegemonic norms within U.S. American society. Readings in critical theory will provide an ideological critical framework in which to understand the interplay between the Bible, film, and society. We will consider films such as The Passion of Christ, Last Temptation of Christ, The Ten Commandments, The Da Vinci Code, David and Bathsheba, Remember the Titans, Stargate, Menace II Society, Fried Green Tomatoes, Three Kings, The Handmaid’s Tale, Pleasantville, The Hunted, Magnolia, Dracula, The Devil’s Advocate, Pulp Fiction, Men in Black (subject to change). Instructor: E. Runions [Elective]

Introduction to comic works of film and fiction from the 19th and 20th centuries. Textual analysis, class discussion, oral reports, composition, advanced work on grammar and stylistics. [Prerequisites: RUSS 044 PO or equivalent.] [Elective]

Examines the relationship between Dostoevsky’s works and contemporary entertainment literature. Focuses on the role of sensational themes, plots and characters in Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Possessed. Instructor: S. Larson, K. Klioutchkine [Elective] 

A survey of Russian and Eastern European film from Soviet to post-Soviet times. Focus on the most innovative films and directors from Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia (and its successor states), Hungary, and former Yugoslavia in their relation to social, cultural, and political discourses. The course includes such topics as the communist past and its aftermath, aesthetics and ideology, historical memory, migration, human trafficking, ethnicity, and gender. Film genres, styles, and basic notions of film theory. [Elective]

The history of Russian cinema from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the present. Topics include cultural politics under the Soviets; censorship; confrontation between the real Soviet world and the fictional reality created by the Soviets; masterpieces of Soviet and post-Soviet cinema; sex and violence of new Russian cinema. Readings on film theory, film criticism and history of Russia. [Elective] 

This course uses visual material–paintings, films, maps, photographs, monuments, fashion, public rituals, folk art, web sites, architecture and urban design–as a basis for a survey of major developments of Russian culture from the 10th century through the present. Several themes unite the course: the icon and the monument as models for the articulation and transmission of sacred meaning, secular authority and national identity; the relationship between official/orthodox and underground/heretical visual cultures; the ways in which visual culture mediates the relationship between public and private life (in, for example, architecture, urban planning and interior design). The course will also introduce students to a variety of critical approaches and strategies for the analysis of visual material. Instructor: S. Larsen [Elective]

Cultural issues in Spanish and Latin American film. Emphasis on oral and written expression through weekly discussions and essays. Topics include politics, economics, the role of women, and the Catholic Church. Instructor: M. Donapetry [Taught in Spanish. Prerequisite: PO SPAN 44 or equivalent. Elective]

Explores the construction and dissemination of predominant images of Latin America through topics such as women, family, sexuality, religion and violence. A close examination of both narrative and film. Emphasis on the development of oral and writing skills, including oral presentations. Instructor: N. Montenegro [Prerequisite: PO SPAN 44 or 50. Elective]

Introduction to basic acting techniques. The fundamentals of voice, movement, relaxation, text analysis, characterization, and sensory and emotional-awareness exercises. Detailed analysis, preparation and performance of scenes. Required for majors, prerequisite for advanced theatre courses. Each semester. Instructors: Staff [Elective]

An introduction to the fundamentals of acting, drawing on different techniques such as psychological realism and physical theatre, these techniques will then be applied in forms such as Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and Playback Theatre. Students will write and perform a self-written monologue, perform a two-person scene from a published script and present a work of documentary theatre or Playback theatre performance engaging a group outside of the classroom. Instructor: J. Lu [Elective]

The visual principles underlying the design of theatre productions: theatre architecture, staging conventions, historic and contemporary design, and environmental theatre. Attendance at professional theatre productions in the L.A. area, films, slides, readings, projects in three-dimensional design. Formerly titled “Visual Arts of the Theatre.” Instructor: S. Linnell [Elective] 

Creating activist theatre from a feminist point of view to explore current theoretical positions, problems and practice in conjunction with local community groups working for social justice. Participatory internship. Instructor: J. Lu [Elective]

Creating activist theatre to build queer and allied community, and to address queer issues including homophobic, transphobic, sexist, and heterosexist behavior, policies and laws. Student will research global theatre activism practice and work with campus and community organizations to devise and present public performances. Instructor: J. Lu [Elective]

Scene study and voice work. Rehearsal and studio performance of selected scenes. Students will gain an understanding of the actor’s work of character analysis through the use of objectives, inner monologues, and character research. Instructor: D. Blaney or Staff [Prereq: Theatre 1 or 3. Elective]

An introduction to the technical production areas of the theatre, with emphasis on equipment and techniques of lighting, design and technical aspects of sound, and the fundamentals of stage and theatre management. Instructor: Ruzika, Staff [Elective] 

This course develops technical and conceptual techniques for the interpretation and performance of comedy and drama for film, television and emerging technologies. Students will audition, rehearse and perform on camera a variety of scenes from film and theatre. Students will analyze and critique their on-camera work as well as work of classmates and established actors. Instructor: A. Blumenfeld [Prereq: THEA 1 or 3; and 12. Elective]

Introduction to basic skills and responsibilities of direction for the stage. Emphasis on detailed text analysis, directorial concept, play selection, auditioning and casting, design concept, blocking, actor coaching, rehearsal strategies, and production management. Workshop scenes are presented and evaluated. Instructor: B. Bernhard [Prereq: Theatre 1 or 3, 2, and 12 or stage manage or assistant direct a faculty-directed show. Elective]

Introduction to the techniques of creative writing for theatre, structuring the basic idea, development of character and situation, and rewriting. Instructor: A. Horowitz [Elective] 

This course will introduce you to the history of popular culture and media, focusing on the sociohistorical contexts of racial representations and the production and consumption of media and popular culture by people of color. We will consider examples from minstrel shows, films, advertising, music, radio, television, public amusements, and digital media. Instructor: M. Delmont [Media History]

Visuality and ethnographic representations are integral to the study of culture. We examine early documentary forms with contemporary digital video works. Special attention will focus on ethical issues and agency in cultural portrayals. Instructor: N. Chen [Elective]

This seminar investigates photographic archives as sites of memory and forgetting. Engaging a range of theoretical, critical, and art-historical texts, students will examine how photography participates in ideas about collective identity, surveillance, territorial imagination, and institutions of knowledge. The course will also discuss the work of artists and photographers whose practices draw from and critically intervene in archives and archival modes. Instructor: Lum, Julia. [Art History]

Painting, sculpture, and non-traditional art forms from Abstract Expressionism to the present, with emphasis on American art. Topics include Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual and Performance Art, Land Art, Site-Specificity and Institutional Critique, feminist art and video. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Instructor: J. Koss [Prereq: one previous art history course. Art History or Elective]

Explores evolution of the photographic image in documentary work, portraiture, aesthetic expression, journalism, and advertising from its inception to the present time. Instructor: Staff [Media History]

The seminar examines in depth one theme or set of themes in 19th- and 20th-century art and related fields. Topic changes each year. Instructor: J. Koss [Open to juniors and seniors. Prereq: one upper-division art history course. Art History]

Beginning with the birth of photography in the 1830s, attending to telegraphy, telephony, radio, and television, and ending with video, this seminar explores the history of the fascination, fear, and peculiar associations that have accompanied new technological developments in Europe and the United States. Prerequisite: one previous art history course or permission of instructor. Instructor: Koss, Juliet. [Art History] 

Concentrating on the visual arts and incorporating film and literature, this seminar examines selected 20th century representations of such cities as Vienna, Paris, London, Moscow, Berlin, New York, and Los Angeles. We will explore the cultural and political configuration of the metropolis as modern, cosmopolitan, and urban. Instructor: J. Koss [Prereq: one upper-division art history course. Art History]

A studio art course in digital photography with an emphasis on image production. Students will explore, discuss, and contextualize historical and contemporary uses of photographic media. Student will learn or expand on their skills in Photoshop and Lightroom. Students must have access to a DSL or Lensless camera w/ full manual camera settings. The course will include student presentations, technical assignments, writing assignments, and a final portfolio. Instructor: Gonzales-Day, Ken [Intro. Production]

The digital print is considered something of a hybrid in the print and photo world. Crossing platforms between the etching studio and the digital art lab, students will create works that integrate both methodologies. Systems including etching, solar printing, monoprinting, digital transfer and analog and digital printing will be explored. Instructor: N. Macko [Prereq: Art 141. Lab Fee: $75. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Working in collaboration, students create a limited-edition, letterpress-printed artist’s book under the Scripps College Press imprint. Through local field trips, library visits and archival research on the fruit trees and plantings on Scripps College campus, regional environmental changes and conservation, students develop original texts, generate imagery, hand set metal and wooden type, hand print on antique presses, and hand-bind an edition of approximately 100 copies of an original student-produced artist book. Fee: $75. Instructor: Blassingame, Tia. [Elective]

This course is designed to develop a sense of computer literacy using the Macintosh system and to acquaint students with the most current state-of-the-art programs in graphics software. Critical discourse is a key element to the structure of the course in examining some of the principles of visual literacy that are encountered in photography, video, animation, and the Internet. Laboratory fee: $75. Offered annually. Instructor: N. Macko [Intro. Production] 

Adobe software is a suite of art and design programs of many levels and complexities. This course will provide the student with an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the various programs through a series of advanced tutorials and assignments. Course content may include creating a portfolio of digital fine art or graphic design work, and/or designing websites. Topics on digital printing, graphic design and contemporary art practice will be discussed in relation to student work. Related readings on contemporary digital art and design art practices. Instructor: N. Macko [Prereq: Art 141. Lab Fee: $75. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Adobe Photoshop is a program of many levels and complexities. This course will provide the student with an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the program through a series of advanced tutorials. Students will then create a digitally output portfolio. Issues of digital printing, digital photography and contemporary photographic practice will be discussed in relation to their work. Related readings on contemporary photography and digital art practice. Laboratory fee: $75. Instructor: N. Macko [Prereq: ART 141, 145. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This studio course builds on students’ web design experience and introduces them to animation and motion graphics for the web using Macromedia Flash software. Production is augmented by critiques and discussions of conceptual and formal ideas. Instructor: Erica Cho [Prereq: SC ART 141. Lab fee $75. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

A lecture and laboratory course in black-and-white photographic principles with an emphasis on visual content, aesthetic concepts, and creative seeing. Instruction in basic camera and darkroom technique and in the history of the photographic medium. Instructor: J. Orser [Students need to have constant access to a 35mm camera. Lab Fee: $75. Intro. Production]

This course continues training in traditional black-and-white photography and explores alternative processes. In addition to darkroom techniques, the curriculum includes reading in contemporary art criticism, self-directed projects, and group critiques. Laboratory fee: $75. Offered annually. Instructor: D. Jauregui [Prereq: Art 145. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This course will provide the student with an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of digital color photography. Working with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, students will learn advanced image editing skills and image management and be given the opportunity to combine digital with film, large format, and wet darkroom techniques. Course will include readings and student presentations on contemporary photography. Digital SLR camera recommended. Prerequisite: Art 141 or Art 145. Laboratory fee: $75. Instructor: Gonzales-Day, Ken [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

A studio course introducing students to the basic techniques of digital video production: camerawork and non-linear editing. Production is augmented by critiques, screenings, and discussions of conceptual and formal ideas. This class has a required lab. Instructor: T. Tran or Staff [Fee: $75. Prereq: MS 49, 50, 51 or equivalent. Non-Scripps students need instructor permission. Intro. Production]

Students continue to develop digital projects and begin to create motion graphics for video using Adobe After Effects software. Production is augmented by critiques, screenings, and discussions of conceptual and formal ideas. Instructor: T. Kim-Trang Tran [Fee: $75. Prereq: Art 148 or equivalent. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

Students continue to develop digital projects and begin to create motion graphics for video using Adobe After Effects software. Production is augmented by critiques, screenings, and discussions of conceptual and formal ideas. Instructor: T. Kim-Trang Tran [Prereq: Art 148 or equivalent. Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This upper-division course provides an in-depth look at the history and methodologies underlying contemporary art practices and is intended to provide students with an opportunity to explore, research, and write on visual culture. Connecting contemporary art practice to the wider history of art, topics may include uses of photography in the 19th century, the avantgarde in Europe, Performance Art, Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Installation Art, Pop Art, and contemporary practices. Repeatable for credit with different topics. Staff. [Media Theory] 

Looking at various aesthetic models, this course will highlight the intersection of modern and contemporary art criticism with issues related to social and cultural constructions of difference as manifested within the visual arts. Topics include modernism, whiteness, race, and the history of lynching in California. Instructor: K. Gonzales-Day [Media Theory; G/U]

Contemporary Practices: Artists in Los Angeles is an upper-division course that provides an in depth look at the history and methodologies underlying contemporary art practices of artists and designers based in Los Angeles, CA. The course will consist of: visiting artist lectures and workshops, readings, group and individual studio projects and written assignments. The goal of this course is for students to contextualize contemporary practices of artists and designers in Los Angeles to important theories and movements within contemporary art. Lab fee: $75. Instructor: Nakaue, Melanie Dana. 

This seminar/studio course examines the recent history and current trends of women’s roles and contributions in media studies and studio art through readings and projects with an emphasis on gender in relationship to media culture. Analysis of and experimentation with visual media including print, photography and digital art in relation to the theory and practice of media studies and studio art is informed by a feminist perspective and critique. Fee: $75. Instructor: Macko, Nancy. [Media Theory] 

This upper-division course provides an in-depth look at the history and methodologies underlying contemporary art practices and is intended to provide students with an opportunity to explore, research, and write on visual culture. Connecting contemporary art practice to the wider history of art, topics may include uses of photography in the 19th century, the avantgarde in Europe, Performance Art, Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Installation Art, Pop Art, and contemporary practices. Repeatable for credit with different topics. Instructor: Tran, Kim-Trang T. [Media Theory] 

From Cleopatra’s beguiling charms and Medea’s torrid love affair with Jason to Homer’s wily Odysseus, ancient culture still provides material for conceptualizing modern political, racial, social, and sexual issues as imagined in modern Hollywood films and European cinema. This course explores contradictions in the relationship between modernity and antiquity through a study of cinematic adaptations of ancient narratives; central to these discussions are the relationship between aesthetics and politics and the shifting role of culture from common ground to culture industry and beyond. In addition to screening films, students will also read plays, poetry, historical narratives, film criticism, and works of critical theory. [Elective]

Analysis of major works by each director in artistic and historical context. Instructor: J. Peavoy [Media History]

Analysis of major works by each director in artistic and historical context. (Note: Lang films will be chosen from his American period.) Instructor: J. Peavoy [Media History] 

Using American films from the fifties, we will explore the relation between popular culture and the society that produces it. Includes films such as “Some Like it Hot,” “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Singing in the Rain,” and “High Noon.” Instructor: J. Peavoy [Media History]

In the 50s and 60s, foreign films became a cultural phenomenon in the United States. They were seen as works of art, in contrast to the “products” of the Hollywood “factory.” We will study these films in terms of their reception in American culture. Works by Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa, Buñuel, Godard, Ray, and others. Instructor: J. Peavoy [Media History]

This course examines queer representations that intervene into film/video production and consumption. Here, “queer” describes strange, odd, or uncanny film/video content. It also refers to racial, gender, and sexual representations that diverge from heterosexual, patriarchal, and national representational norms. We attend to strategies filmmakers use to code non-normative depictions despite filmmaking prohibitions. We also consider the role film/video play in facilitating and challenging the late twentieth-century globalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities. In turn, we develop queer methodologies-reading practices and materialist analyses-to understand how film/video shape and intercept social norms, economic imperatives, and institutions of power. Instructor: Cheng, Jih-Fei [Media Theory]

This course will concentrate on three aspects of the role of women in French film in order to define the relationship between women as icons (larger-than-life images in the collective fantasy of a certain “Frenchness”), women as subjects, and, finally, women as creators of film. Appropriate readings in French will be assigned. Some films may be shown without subtitles; discussion and written work will be in French. Instructor: D. Krauss. [Prequisite: FREN 44 or equivalent. Elective]

This course examines how documentary cinema has recorded and reflected upon France’s dramatic social transformations in the 20th century. Through analyses of films by the Lumière brothers, Vigo, Rouquier, Franju, Resnais, Marker, Rouch, Tavernier, Godard, Lanzmann, Depardon, Philibert, and Varda amongst others, the course will stress the diversity and inventiveness of the documentary as an art form. Prerequisite: French 100 or equivalent. Instructor: N. Rachlin. [Media Theory or Media History]

The first film director in the history of narrative cinema was a French woman, Alice Guy-Blaché, who, starting in 1896, made over a 1000 films during her lifetime. Even though early precursors like Guy-Blaché, were often erased from film history, women directors in France have a long tradition to draw from. It is this tradition of women filmmaking that we will explore in this course, focusing in particular on a new generation of women directors who today are revitalizing contemporary French cinema. Directors studied include: Guy, Dulac, Epstein, Varda, Akerman, Denis, Palcy, Sciamma, Maïwenn, Benguigui, Braillat, Ducournau. This course introduces students to the art of cinema, its language and techniques, as well as to film analysis. Taught in French with weekly screenings. Prerequisite: FREN044 or equivalent required. Note that the course will be conducted entirely in French and that some of the films will be screened without subtitles. Note: Monday night film screenings. Instructor: Rachlin, Nathalie M. [Elective]

More than 50 years on, 2021 looks a lot like 1968 did: widespread political upheaval and economic crises; global war, mass migration, unresolved fights for equality and civil rights, student revolts, violent political terror, deteriorating welfare states… And cinema was there to record it all. In fact, no other period in international cinema has been more impactful than the late 1960s. This comparative film history class discusses some of Germany’s most influential/controversial political films of the time in conversation with a selection of international productions of and since 1968. Features a thorough introduction to film theory and film analysis. Taught in German. Instructor: Vennemann, Kevin [Elective]

This course covers various “genres” of criminality in modern European fiction and film, including murder, criminal vice, theft, sex crimes, white-collar corporate conspiracy crimes of passion and domestic violence. We explore two related (but distinct) topics: how crimes are planned and executed; and how they are then turned, step-by-step, into compelling literary and cinematic storylines. Course taught in English. Instructor: M. Katz [Elective]

Whether pictured as a labyrinth, stage set, utopian pleasure-dome or gigantic living room, the urban landscape has played a crucial role in the attempt of 20th-century writers and artists to come to terms with modernity. The course will move from the squares of 19th-century Berlin, the grid of Manhattan, to the malls and theme parks of Los Angeles, using fiction (Poe, Kafka, Wm. Gibson), film (Lang, Wenders, R. Scott), essays (Eco, Didion) and urban theory (Sennett, Choay) to investigate how changes in the perception of the city reflect the ways modernity sees itself. Course taught in English. Instructor: M. Katz [Elective] 

This course examines the idea of culture and the diverse ways it has been debated and narrated by literary critics, philosophers, anthropologists and historians. The course considers topics of mass culture, language, class, gender and sexuality, post-colonialism, and urban space through theoretical readings as well as literature from Jane Eyre to Trainspotting. Instructor: E. Cuming. [Elective]

This course will explore the history and criticism of Italian cinema from its origin to the 21st century through the showing of a number of iconic films and the criticism surrounding them. It will also help students better understand contemporary Italian history through film. Taught alternately in Italian and English. Instructor: Ovan, Sabrina [Elective] 

In this course, students will develop and create their own fictional worlds through the process of worldbuilding. Worldbuilding is the practice of creating a fully developed fictionalized environment in which the political, historical, cultural, environmental, philosophical (and more) are fully conceptualized and explored. Throughout the semester, students will engage with different forms of concepting and world-design such as creative writing, storyboarding, digital painting and photobashing in order to understand and visualize their respective worlds. This will ultimately culminate in the creation of a media artwork that portrays a narrative within this created universe. In addition to this, we will engage with a variety of films, artworks, games and more to learn about the process of world creation. Course pending faculty approval. [Introduction to Production]

Machine learning (ML) is a new branch of computer science that provides services for automatic translation and speech recognition (Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant), product recommendations (Netflix, Amazon, etc.), transportation (Waymo, Tesla, the City of Copenhagen), and political campaigns (Facebook and Cambridge Analytica). ML is becoming a familiar presence in our lives; computer scientists and developers introduce new applications every day for chatting with humans, recommending the best course of action, and making predictions about the future. In spite of all the press, ML remains daunting to non-specialists. This class seeks to mend this divide. This class will introduce ML concepts to students without prior experience and provide templates to get students working in ML right away. We will study and remake artworks by Mario Klingemann, Anna Ridler, Sougwen Chung, Memo Akten, Helena Sarin, Tom White, and others. They will use techniques such as image segmentation, CycleGAN, pix2pix, and Tensorflow. Students will propose and work on a larger project in the last third of the class. [Prerequisite: Any experience with programming, especially with Python.] [Introduction to Production]

This course is designed to provide students with a working knowledge of digital art through the use of digital art software. The curriculum is designed to assist students in approaching their artistic ideas from a fine arts perspective, to draw upon formal elements in art and conceptual issues related to art and technology thus influencing and informing their creative process, projects and goals. Also listed as ART 141 SC. [Introduction to Production]

This course will provide an overview of the development of the new media of photography, film, video, and digital imaging and examine principles of visual literacy. Drawing from a variety of texts and other theoretically informed models (film, video, new media), this course will provide students with a critical understanding of popular and/or mass cultural production. Instructor: T. Kim-Trang Tran [Intro. Critical]

An interdisciplinary introduction to digital and electronic media, exploring the relationships between “old” and “new” media forms, the historical development of computer-based communication and the ways that new technologies are reshaping literature, art, journalism, and the social world. Instructor: Wing, Carlin. [Intro. Critical]

Introductory course in computation within the context of media and art with a focus on two-dimensional graphics. The potential of computer as medium will be considered through exercises, assignments, readings, and critiques. Both procedural and object-oriented programming will be explored, as well as, using input and output of files, generative techniques, and image creation through data processing. Instructor(s): Tran, Kim-Trang T. ; Mi, Jane. 

Intermediate course in computation within context of media and art with a focus on three-dimensional graphics. The potential of computer as medium will be considered through exercises, assignments, readings, and critiques. The course introduces students to three dimensional tools, including explorations in mixed reality environments (XR). Instructor: Mi, Jane. [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This course serves as an introduction to the foundations of game design. Talking about games may conjure memories of Sonic and Mario, but gaming long precedes the digital forms we know today. Games are as old as any human art form and exist across every culture; playful behavior even precedes human language. In this course we will explore this question through a formal approach, focusing on game design as a creative and cultural practice with deep history and common principles that can be studied, practiced and effectively enacted. In this setting, game design does not require mastery of code nor a life-long obsession with games. Rather, like other aesthetic and experiential forms, game design has fundamentals that may apply across media, platforms and contexts. Instructor: Wing, Carlin. [Intro. Production] 

Fifty years ago all computers were analog: they found answers by reading changes in a physical model to describe a problem. The course will introduce students to analog computation by solving problems best done with non-digital techniques. We will cover the history of traditional topics in computer science by showing how they emerged from analog computation. We will then map the analogs to algorithms and write code to reproduce the original solutions. Course pending faculty approval. First Years only. Instructor: Goodwin, Doug. [Intro. Production] 

This class begins by teaching students how to program a computer to print “Hello World!” with Python. Students will build fluency and confidence by completing weekly exercises and practice collaboration using Google Colab, Slack, and GitHub. Final projects will use data analysis to visualize either climate data, social media webs, or local demographics. No programming experience is expected or assumed. Instructor: Goodwin, Doug. 

This class is an introduction to the fundamentals of video production, encouraging a creative approach to the medium through an open-ended engagement with different techniques and modalities found in documentary and other filmmaking practices. The goal is to familiarize students with the use of the video camera, microphones and sound recording equipment, tripod, and non-linear editing systems. The class is critique-driven: the discussions that follow the screening of each exercise are the principal method by which the successes and shortcomings of that work are evaluated. Students will create 5 2-minute video works. All assignments will be carefully explained long before the due date. Pending faculty approval. Instructor: Wing, Carlin [Intro. Production]

How does a medium become gendered or racialized? Whose voices, images, and bodies come to delimit a medium? In this course, we will investigate the role that para-textual fields such as criticism, marketing, and fandom play in shaping media culture, with video games and game cultures as a paradigmatic case study. Historical examples from games will be supplemented with theories of criticism and discourse to create a starting point for student-developed media research projects. Prerequisite: MS 049 SC, MS 050 PZ, or MS 051 SC. Instructor: Moralde, Oscar. [Media History or Media Theory] 

New Media Research Studio is a class dedicated to the applied and participatory study of new media, materials, environments and platforms. It uses the term “new” to pivot around the historical conditions and everyday practices of contemporary media. Students will explore the social, cultural, economic, and political dimension of phenomena such as social media, mobile gaming, live streaming, digital fabrication, internet art, automation, and augmented reality. Through immersive independent investigations that will take the form of “travelogues,” they will learn how to define and develop projects that employ historical, ethnographic, and artistic methods of research and production. Prerequisites: MS 049, 050, 051, and an Introductory Production class in Media Studies. Instructor: Wing, Carlin. [Intermediate/Advanced Production] 

This course situates narrative writing as a key design practice for the creation of games and other interactive experiences. Learn how traditional narrative principles such as character, setting, and plot function within indeterminate and variable experiences that range from mainstream video game to tabletop role-playing and experimental digital/theatre works. Embark on creative writing and design projects that integrate narrative and algorithmic/rule-based play in digital and non-digital form. Prerequisites: MS 049 SC, MS 050 PZ or MS 051 SC and an introductory production class in Media Studies. Pre-req: MS 049, MS 050, MS 051
and an Intro Production class in Media Studies. Instructor: Moralde, Oscar. [Intermediate/Advanced Production]

This course explores cultural techniques and technologies of interaction, including but not limited to games, motion capture, and virtual reality. This semester, we will use the topic of games to unpack notions of interaction within a productive set of limits. Games are interactive media. And more and more, they are everywhere. While Eric Zimmerman calls our present moment the “ludic century,” Alex Galloway describes it as “an era of ludic capitalism.” In this moment, making and playing games ranges across the personal, political, professional, prescribed, and performative. Students will explore central questions in media theory and game studies while developing projects about formal, material, technical, social, and theoretical understandings of interaction. Prerequisites: MS 049, 050, or MS 051. Instructor: Wing, Carlin. [Media Theory] 

Computers can correct flaws in traditional photography, and photographers are happy to use some or all of these tools to improve their images. Focus, aperture, and shutter may be automated alone or in concert. These fixes are just the beginning of the ways that computation will change photography. Soon cameras will make images without optics, manipulate time to sharpen the image, even see around corners to recover faces. We will study the impacts that computational photography will make on the arts, consider the consequences of new propaganda, and propose tactics to deal with these disruptions. Pending faculty approval. Instructor: Goodwin, Doug. [Intro. Production] 

Computers can correct flaws in traditional photography, and photographers are happy to use some or all of these tools to improve their images. Focus, aperture, and shutter may be automated alone or in concert. These fixes are just the beginning of the ways that computation will change photography. Soon cameras will make images without optics, manipulate time to sharpen the image, even see around corners to recover faces. We will study the impacts that computational photography will make on the arts, consider the consequences of new propaganda, and propose tactics to deal with these disruptions. Part 2 builds on our study of cameras and representation and moves into computer vision, image processing, digital cameras, image segmentation, high-dynamic-range imaging, texture analysis and synthesis, object detection, and projector-camera systems. Course work includes implementing relevant algorithms and completing a final project. Prerequisite: MS 159SC (CP1) or introductory programming class. Instructor: Goodwin, Doug.  [Intermediate/Advanced Production] 

Jointly-taught seminar designed for senior majors. Review of key issues/theories in media studies.

Pedro Almodovar is one of the most recognizable auteur directors in Europe today. This course studies Pedro Almodovar’s development from his directorial debut to the present, from the “shock” value of the early films to the award-winning mastery of the later ones. [Prerequisite: Spanish 101.] [Elective]