Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: SURVEY OF AMERICAN FILM AND CULTURE

Department: Art History

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will cover the history of cinema in the U.S. from its origins to the present day. We will examine the development of narrative, the transition to synchronized sound, the classical Hollywood form and style (with detailed analysis of cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene, sound), the rise and fall of the Production Code, film genres and the star system, the emergence of television, the influence of postwar "art cinemas," the origins of the blockbuster, and the status of Hollywood as "global cinema." The relationship between film and culture will be explored through the economics of filmmaking, the role of regulatory institutions, and the controversies surrounding the notorious Birth of a Nation, McCarthyism and the Blacklist, and representations of sex and violence on film. Cross-list: ENGL 373.