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Cinema Studies Courses
Fall 2009
The following Cinema Studies courses will be offered during the Fall 2009 semester and may be taken to fulfill requirements of the Cinema Studies Concentration of the Interdisciplinary Major and the Cinema Studies Minor. Sections not appearing on this list (or not cross-listed with sections on this list) may not be used for either the Concentration/Major or the Minor.
Graduate courses on this list may be taken in fulfillment of the requirements of the Graduate Minor in Cinema Studies.
The descriptions below have been supplied by faculty teaching the courses and apply only to the courses as they are offered during the Fall 2009 semester. Links are provided to the on-line Course Schedule.
NOTE: Cinema Studies is in the process of moving from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences to the College of Media, and the requirements of the Cinema Studies Major and Minor will undergo some changes attendant on that move.
These changes, however, will not apply to students already in the Cinema Studies Minor or the Cinema Studies Concentration of the Interdisciplinary Studies Major, and those students should continue selecting their Cinema Studies courses from this list.
- CINE 104. Introduction to Film
- The goal of this course is to develop students' abilities to view films critically and to deepen their understanding of the film experience. The course first teaches analysis of narrative strategies, shot properties, mise-en-scčne, acting, editing, and the use of sound in films, especially classical Hollywood movies. The course then focuses on the study of different genres and styles of films, including documentaries, feminist films, westerns, musicals, and melodramas, in terms of how they present ideological points of view and/or fulfill certain wishes of the spectator. English 104 is an appropriate prerequisite for English 273 (the second half of the English film sequence) and other advanced film courses.
The course presents one film program including a feature film per week, shown in a required screening lab on Mondays or Tuesdays. Each section meets for two 75-minute lecture-discussion sessions per week. All sections use Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art as an introductory textbook and additional reading assignments (essays and book chapters) available on library reserve or in a photocopied reader. Sections are designed so that each student contribute extensively in the discussions; attendance and participation are crucial in this course.
The minimum formal assignments are about 12 pages of expository writing (often 3 short papers, but some instructors prefer 1 short and 1 long one, and some may assign more writing); a midterm; and a three hour final exam; some instructors also give quizzes. On the exams, most instructors give a factual section (identification, brief answer) plus a section of essay questions.
This course earns 3 credit hours and qualifies as a General Education course in Humanities and the Arts.
3 Hours.
NOTE: Students enrolling in CINE 104 must register for both a lec/dis section and a lab section.
51307 lab AB1 03:00 - 05:50 p.m. M 101 Armory
51308 lab AB2 07:30 - 10:20 p.m. M 101 Armory
51309 lec/dis AE1 08:00 - 09:15 a.m. WF 148 Armory
51311 lec/dis AE2 09:30 - 10:45 a.m. WF 148 Armory
51312 lec/dis AE3 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. WF 148 Armory
51314 lec/dis AE4 12:30 - 01:45 p.m. WF 148 Armory
51315 lec/dis AE5 03:00 - 04:15 p.m. WF 148 Armory
51317 lab BB1 03:00 - 05:50 p.m. M 101 Armory
51318 lab BB2 07:30 - 10:20 p.m. M 101 Armory
51319 lec/dis BE1 08:00 - 09:15 p.m. TR 148 Armory
51320 lec/dis BE2 09:30 - 10:45 a.m. TR 148 Armory
51321 lec/dis BE3 09:30 - 10:45 a.m. TR 59A English Bldg
51322 lec/dis BE4 01:00 - 02:15 p.m. TR 148 Armory
51323 lec/dis BE5 03:30 - 04:45 p.m. TR 59A English Bldg
[Same as ENGL 104.]
- CINE 261. Survey of World Cinema, I: The Beginnings to the Coming of Sound
- Consideration of filmmaking trends established in the silent era and their incorporation into the sound film. Types of filmmaking covered include the Hollywood studio film, German Expressionism, Soviet montage, French avant-garde, and the birth of documentary filmmaking. Coverage of these styles and movements will include some attention to social, cultural, and political backgrounds. Directors studied will include important figures such as Griffith, Chaplin, Keaton, Eisenstein, and Murnau. This course fulfills the General Education requirement in Literature and the Arts. Students must receive authorization to enroll by contacting the Interim Director of the Unit for Cinema Studies at (cinema@uiuc.edu).
3 Hours.
Monday & Wednesday: 1:00-2:50, 101 Armory.
Instructor: Billy Budd Vermillion.
Course Number: 29888
- CINE 273. American Cinema since 1950
- This recently redesigned course (previously called “intermediate film studies”) is not a film history course per se, but rather examines how selected films made in the U.S. after World War II realize or engage key concepts such as genre, authorship, narrative, gender analysis, and the spectacle of violence. The course addresses these issues in the production, consumption and study of cinema in the context of major transitions in the American film industry over the latter half of the 20th and into the 21st century. Among those developments are the shift away from the dominant stylistic and ideological models of “classical Hollywood” during the 1960s; the emergence of the “New Hollywood” in the 1970s with its stylistic eclecticism and emphasis on formulaic blockbusters; and the still-developing globalization of contemporary American cinema, in which non-American filmmakers are molding some of the most significant Hollywood productions of the new century. Required viewing of a feature film each week in a Wed. afternoon (3-5:30) screening lab; the course also requires active discussion, regular attendance, substantial reading from a course packet. and several essays. Prerequisite is a prior college-level film course such as English/Cine 104 or Cine 261 or 262, or permission of the instructor.
3 Hours.
51324 lab AB1 03:30 - 05:50 p.m. W
51325 dis/rec AD1 12:00 - 12:50 p.m. TR 148 Armory Basu, A
53214 dis/rec AD2 11:00 - 11:50 a.m. TR 148 Armory Newcomb, J
NOTE: Students must register for both lab and lecture-discussion section.
[Same as ENGL 273.]
- CINE 275. American Indians and Film
- Introduction to representations of American Indians in film.
Emphasis on reconstructions of American Indians within the Western genre and more recent reconstructions by Native filmmakers.
Students will be required to attend film screenings.
3 Hours.
Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 2:00-2:50 p.m., 148 Armory.
Instructor: R. Warrior.
Course Number: 53382 [Same as AIS 275.]
- CINE 361. Film Theory and Criticism
- This course provides a survey of the historical development of film criticism and an introduction to the current range of theories.
3 Hours.
Tuesday & Thursday: 1:00-2:50 p.m., 431 Armory
Instructor: Billy Budd Vermillion.
Course Number: 49026
- CINE 365. Asian American Media and Film
- An examination of media generally and films and videos more specifically (experimental, documentary, independent, and Hollywood features) by, for, and about Asian Americans.
Prerequisite: Any AAS course at the 100- or 200-level, or consent of instructor.
3 Hours.
Tuesday & Thursday: 1:00-2:20 p.m., 119 David Kinley Hall.
Tuesday: 3:00-4:50 p.m. (screening), 119 David Kinley Hall.
Instructor: Kent Ono.
Course Number: 42863 [Same as AAS 365.]
- CINE 373. Special Topics in Film Studies
- Topic: Magical Empire: The Disney Phenomenon from Cultural, Artistic & Global Economic Perspectives
Over the 80-plus years of its existence, “Disney” has become a household word not just in the U.S. but also internationally, particularly in recent decades through the global marketing of videos and extension of Disney theme parks abroad.
This film and popular culture topics course will critically explore the distinctive contributions and widespread impact of “Disney” from multiple perspectives: as an artistic and narrative style; an American biography; a key component of media and entertainment industry; a factor in shaping American childhood and social values; an expansionary business model; and a crucial site at which to study textual representation of race, gender, and familial relations. We will examine the representational emphases and cultural, economic and political impact of Disney productions, from early cartoons, animated features, and live-action films to the corporation’s ownership and development of television, video games, and theme parks and model communities. We will also briefly consider counter models to the Disney corporation, e.g., Dreamworks, and U.S. marketing of Japanese manga and anime (e.g., work from Studio Ghibli).
The central goal is for students to come to know and master critical, historical and theoretical approaches to understanding the global appeal and force of 20th-21st century media and popular cultural forms, with Disney serving as our case study.
The course requires extensive reading (two books, a substantial course reader of articles), viewing (some outside class time) and writing.
Specifically, each student will present several short responses/field reports, craft two formal synopses of selected readings, and research and write a critical essay (for which an appropriate creative project may substitute, with instructor permission), as well as take a final exam over key points in the materials at the timetable scheduled time in December.
Please note that this course places great emphasis on critical reading, discussion and writing.
Note specifically (as the course title “Magical Empire” implies) that it requires students to grapple with some essays and videos that express far-reaching objections to the Disney company’s productions and practices.
From past experience in teaching the course, I expect that participants will enjoy as well as learn a lot from the materials under study (many of which certainly show appreciation for Disney) and from each other. However, this course is NOT designed for committed Disney fans who want mostly to review their favorite films and characters and are disinclined to give serious consideration to negative responses to Disney, nor for anyone who would really rather not carefully analyze the “Disney phenomenon.”
Prerequisite: sophomore standing or higher, at least one prior college course in cinema, literature or communication studies, or instructor permission.
3 Hours.
Tuesday & Thursday: 1:00-2:50 p.m., 147 Armory
Instructor: Ramona Curry
Course Number: 51327 [Same as ENGL 373.]
- CINE 373. Special Topics in Film Studies
- Topic: Sexuality and Cinema in the U.S.
This course explores how sexuality and cinema have been intertwined from
the late nineteenth century to the present, not only through the erotics
of the on-screen image, but also through the politics of sexuality in
the production and reception of films. Through theoretical and
historical readings, we will consider a range of topics, including
theories of spectatorship, psychoanalytic models of desire and fantasy,
censorship, intersectional approaches to race and sexuality, the
emergence of lesbian and gay identities, the politics of pornography,
and queer approaches to cinema, among others. Weekly screenings will
include films from a range of historical periods, genres, and production
contexts in the U.S. Prerequisite: One college-level film studies course and one additional college-level course in film studies or literature, or consent of instructor.
3 Hours.
Tuesday & Thursday: 11:00 a.m. - 12:50 p.m., 333 Armory
Instructor: Siobhan Somerville
Course Number: 51326 [Same as ENGL 373.]
- CINE 373. Special Topics in Film Studies
- Topic: Haunted Cinema
This course is a Hollywood genre study with a couple of twists. It is structured not around a classic genre like the western or horror film, but around a narrative motif, the experience of haunting, which bridges many of the key genres of film history. Haunting scenarios have been combined with almost every Hollywood genre—horror (both supernatural and psychological), sci-fi, teenpic, romance, western, religious allegory, family drama, even comedy. Some narratives of haunting provide us with powerful metaphors of interconnection in a fragmented modern world; others allow us to imagine the idea of religious belief in a skeptical age. At their best they create generic hybrids that link our psychic fantasies to sociopolitical realities in vivid and powerful ways.
Examining this “genre that is not one” will allow us to pursue main three avenues of inquiry:
(1) To ask what’s problematic and what’s productive about the entire notion of cinematic genre
(2) To consider how cinema allows us to explore issues of identity, gender, and sexuality which are crucial to our psychic lives, yet often taboo in most aspects of our lives
(3) To consider what haunts cinema itself: what forces and fears, normally repressed by the moneymaking machinery of Hollywood, return to speak to the viewer in haunting narratives? In other words, what does cinema tell us about itself through these narratives that it can’t or won’t speak of in any other way?
We’ll focus primarily on recent Hollywood productions, but will pay some attention to earlier films that establish key conventions for the haunting film. Among the films we are likely to screen are Nosferatu, The Mothman Prophecies, The Ring, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Turn of the Screw, The Sixth Sense, The Others.
Tuesdays are weekly mandatory film screenings; Thursdays are discussion sessions. You must be available for both sessions each week.
The workload will include several brief film analyses; two or three formal papers; extensive participation in class discussion; and a final exam. The principal text will be a photocopy reader. The prerequisite for this course is at least 3 semester hours of college level work in literature and/or film. One film course is recommended.
3 Hours.
Tuesday 2:30-5:20 p.m., 148 Armory
Thursday 2:30-4:20 p.m., 148 Armory
Instructor: Tim Newcomb
Course Number: 54658 [Same as ENGL 373.]
- CINE 395. Special Cinema Studies Topics
- Topic: Film Reviewing
This course is intended to help students write intelligently about the cinema for a variety of non-scholarly venues. We will discuss various aspects of popular film criticism, including what makes a good review,
how to deal with editors and deadlines, what to expect of one's audience, where and how to gather background information,
and what sort of professional ethics are expected. Students will have weekly writing assignments of reviews of varying lengths for different sorts of venues, feature pieces, film notes, and interviews
and will be expected to re-write some assignments based on comments by the instructor and other students.
Students will be required to keep film journals of all films they see during the semester.
Three or four films will be screened in class so that on some assignments all students will be writing about the same film.
Shorter review assignments will be read aloud in class for class comments.
Consent of instructor required. Contact rleskosk@illinois.edu for approval.
3 Hours.
Monday & Wednesday: 3:00 - 4:50 p.m., 384 Armory
Instructor: Richard Leskosky.
Course Number: 49270
- CINE 395. Special Cinema Studies Topics
- Topic: Art Cinema and the New Waves
This course will involve an examination of major films and filmmakers associated with the international art cinema.
We will study and raise questions about a number of models that scholars have developed to explain art cinema, including those that treat art cinema as a style, a genre, or an institution.
Our primary focus will be on the various “new waves” or “young cinemas” that emerged around the world in the late 1950s and 1960s, including the French New Wave, the Czechoslovak New Wave, and the Japanese New Wave, though we will also pay attention to art films made around the same time in different parts of the world.
Over the course of the semester, we will work to understand the stylistic, cultural, and industrial cross-currents that enabled these movements to appear around the same time in so many parts of the world. At the same time, we will pay attention to the different philosophical and aesthetic contexts that inform these films in order to form a clearer understanding of how these films might represent distinct national or regional traditions.
3 Hours.
Monday & Wednesday: 3:00 - 4:50 p.m., 147 Armory
Instructor: Billy Budd Vermillion.
Course Number: 40044
- CINE 489. French and Comparative Cinema II
- The art, techniques, sociology, politics of French cinema in the context of French culture, world history, and general film development from approximately 1950 to the present. Selected trends studied through films from several countries with stress on major French filmmakers including Clouzot, Bresson, Chabrol, Resnais, Godard, Truffaut, Berri, Varda, Blier, Marker, Rohmer, and Costa-Gavras. Knowledge of French not required. Prerequisite: One college-level cinema studies course (FR 488 preferred) or consent of instructor.
4 Hours.
Tuesday & Thursday: 3:00-4:50 p.m., 147 Armory.
Instructor: Margaret Flynn.
Course Number: 47387 [Same as FR 489. Also cross-listed as CWL 489 and HUM 489.]
- CINE 490. The Films of Ingmar Bergman
- This class focuses on the major films and TV productions of Ingmar Bergman and his contributions to and influence on European cinema. The course involves contextualizing Bergman’s films in a European perspective, including addressing European film history, film criticism, and auteur theory. The course also involves the study of selected films by European filmmakers whose affinity with Bergman can highlight the contributions of Bergman to the development of European cinema during the entire second half of the twentieth century, including Godard, Truffaut, Von Trier, and Ullman. The course begins with one of his earlier films (Sawdust and Tinsel, 1953) and ends with his last, (Saraband, 2005). Course objectives include students gaining significant knowledge of Bergman’s production in a European context, honing of analytical skills in the interpretation of cinematic language, and practicing academic research skills.
Prerequisites for the course include one course in Cinema or Scandinavian studies, or consent of the instructor.
3 Hours. [Graduate students who want 4 credit hours should also enroll for one hour of SCAN 496, Section AS1, CRN 48778.]
Monday & Wednesday, 1:00-2:50 p.m., 147 Armory
Instructor: Anna Stenport.
Course Number: 35445
[Same as SCAN 490.]
- CINE 493. German Cinema I
- This course examines German film from its inception until 1945. We critically engage with the legacy of German Expressionism and examine the development of film aesthetics from the revolutionary use of montage to Leni Riefenstahl’s monumental films in the Third Reich. Issues to be discussed include the intersection of aesthetics and politics, subjectivity and the formation of the mass, and the relationship between Hollywood and German film. We consider each film in its historical, sociopolitical, and cultural contexts by reading the discourse on film from this period.
3 Hours.
Tuesday & Thursday: 10:00-11:50 a.m., 147 Armory
Instructor: Isaac Tubb
Course Number: 51245
[Same as GER 493.]
- CINE 503. Historiography of Cinema
- This graduate seminar examines practices and trends in writing the history of cinema, thereby offering a meta-historical study focused on how film histories have variously construed their object of study, e.g., as an art form, an industry, a phenomenon of modernity, a cultural artifact, material expression of national character and/or collective social trauma, or site of ideological discourse. The seminar will also consider how cinema histories have articulated with accounts of the origins and developments of other (proliferating) screen media. After initially surveying issues including what stylistic elements and contextual records conventionally get privileged as film historical evidence and which cinematic canons have exercised lasting influence in the writing of film histories, we will engage with “national cinema history” as a persistent, strategic and often productive but also now frequently contested film historiographic approach.
Alongside selected articles, we’ll comparatively read and discuss five books (TBD), each exemplifying a distinctive realization of national cinema historiography. We will view in class at least one feature film relevant to each of five national cinemas on which we focus; students will likely need to watch one or two additional films outside class. Each student will make several written and oral presentations on the readings, films and issues discussed, explore local cinema historical archives (amazing resources on campus and the Internet), and as a final project compile an extensive annotated bibliography that proposes a cogent historiographic approach to an individual topic formulated in relation to the overarching case study theme of “national cinema histories.”
This seminar is one of two required courses for the Graduate Minor in Cinema Studies.
To learn more about the Graduate Minor in Cinema Studies, please go to http://www.cinema.uiu8c.edu/gradminor.html
and then contact Richard Leskosky at cinema@illinois.edu with any remaining questions about that program.
4 Hours.
Wednesday, 3:00-5:50 p.m., 59A English
Instructor: Ramona Curry.
Course Number: 43341 [Also cross-listed as CWL 503 and ENGL 503.]
- ANTH 266. African Film and African Society
- A course on recent feature films produced in African countries. These films are used to provide an introduction to contemporary Africa. Some of these films have received prestigious international awards. The films shown in the class are treated as entertainment, as art, and as documents revealing social issues in contemporary Africa. The course will include readings on Africa, on the countries where the films were made, and on the topics they deal with. After the first two introductory weeks, the students will watch one film per week. Attendance of these screenings and the lectures and discussions is obligatory. There will be exams and weekly writing assignments. This course fulfills the General Education requirement in Non-Western Cultures.
3 Hours.
Monday & Wednesday: 2:30-4:20 p.m., 393 Bevier Hall
Instructor: Mahir Saul.
Course Number: 37072 [Same as AFST 266.]
- RUSS 219. Russian Cinema Survey
- This course focuses on the cinema and culture of twentieth-century Russia, beginning slightly before the 1917 Russian Revolution and ending roughly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1997. The class will center on representative films of the Soviet era, moving from the experimental cinema of the Russian avant-garde to the industrial daydreams of the socialist realists to the dissipated visions of the post-Soviet post-modernists.
3 Hours.
Monday & Wednesday, 10:00-11:50 a.m., 147 Armory.
Instructor: Lilya Kaganovsky
Course Number: 53315
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Unit for Cinema Studies
rleskosk@illinois.edu
updated 8.18.2009 rjl
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