The Undergraduate Major in Cinema and Media Studies has been designed by faculty across the College of Arts and Humanities to enable students to explore the aesthetic, cultural, economic, historical, and technological dimensions of the most globally influential art forms of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. This 39-credit major is based on a critical and textual approach to cinema and media, emphasizing scholarly viewing, interpreting, and writing about moving images. It provides students with a solid background in theoretical, critical, and aesthetic aspects of the study of cinema and media, including the history of the medium and the analysis of national cinemas throughout the world, always keeping in view questions of how new media have changed both cinema itself and the study of cinema. As an art form that has been international in nature and global in reach from its inception, cinema challenges students to think globally and understand the systems of transnational exchange that have characterized this medium. The Cinema and Media Studies major brings together courses in cinema from varied nations, languages, and cultures.
Cinema and Media Studies is an interdisciplinary program in the humanities that enables students to explore an influential global art form in its aesthetic, cultural, economic, historical, and technological dimensions. The major takes a critical, textual approach to film, emphasizing scholarly viewing, interpreting, and writing about moving images. It provides students with a solid background in theoretical, critical, and aesthetic aspects of the study of film, including the history of the medium and the analysis of national cinemas, always keeping in view questions of how new media have changed both cinema itself and the study of cinema.
The major in Cinema and Media Studies teaches the fundamental skills required for a range of professional careers: critical thinking, historical awareness, research, information management, cogent development of ideas, and strong written and oral communication. Students will work toward competence in film and media analysis, critical viewing and writing, and visual literacy at a time when our culture is becoming increasingly dependent upon visual communication.
