FILM2900: Introduction to Film Studies (FC: HU)
Instructor: Amanda Ann Klein
Film Screenings: Streaming titles watched outside of class
This class is offered at 2 different times, taught by the same instructor:
FILM 2900.001 is on T, Th: 9:30-10:45 am
FILM 2900.002 is on T,Th: 2-3:15pm
The goal of this course, as its title suggests, is to “introduce” you to the broad field of film studies, including formal analysis, genre studies, film history and theory. By the end of the semester you will have the basic critical tools necessary for understanding and analyzing the language of motion pictures. Ideally, this course will enable you to not only gain a richer understanding of the films you watch but also the television shows, You Tube videos, commercials, and other media you encounter on a daily basis.
Screenings: City of God (2002, Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund), Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee), The Virgin Suicides (1999, Sofia Coppola), Bicycle Thieves (1949, Vittorio de Sica), The Queen of Versailles (2012, Lauren Greenfield)
NO TEXTBOOK REQUIRED
****FILM2900 is a required course for the Film Studies minor core****
ENGL2260: Topics in Contemporary African American Cultural Texts: Black Horror Cinema (FC: HU)
Instructor: Amanda Ann Klein
Class times: T, Th: 12:30-1:45pm
Film Screenings: Streaming titles watched outside of class
ENGL2260 class explores the construction of race, racial difference, and other intersecting identities in contemporary Black media, literature and/or folklore. This specific iteration of the course explores how race and racial difference is constructed in American horror cinema and to what effect, using the horror film as a framework for understanding political, social, and cultural history of American race relations and racial difference. The course will be structured around multiple interlinked questions about race and representation such as: what is a “Black horror film”? Is it defined by the race of its director, its actors, or its thematic concerns? We will discuss if and how filmic representations can impact the way audiences understand race, but also gender, sexual orientation, religion, and physical ability. We will ask how and why cinematic representations of race change over time. If what we see in the horror film reflects our own nightmares and anxieties, then what can the history of Black horror films tell us about our country’s fears and anxieties related to race?
Screenings: Blacula (1972, William Crane), Tales from the Hood (1995, Rusty Cundieff), Ma (2019, Tate Taylor), Candyman (1992, Bernard Rose) Beloved (1998, Jonathan Demme) Get Out (2017, Jordan Peele), Ganja and Hess (1973, Bill Gunn), The First Purge (2018, Gerard McMurray), Blade (1998, Stephen Norrington)
****ENGL2260 counts towards the Multicultural/Transnational/International Film Cognate for the Fall 2023 semester****
RUSS 3220 (601): 19th Cent. Russian Literature in Film Adaptation (GE:HU)
Instructor: Elena Murenina
Times Offered: M, W: 2:00-3:15 pm
Film screenings: students screen films on their own and watch excerpts in class
Course description: In this online humanities course, we will explore American, British, and international film adaptations of the 19thcentury masterpieces written by Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov, with the focus on ethical, philosophical, and psychological dimensions of their prose and drama. How can the problems of artistic creativity, human dignity, gender, love, marriage, environment, pandemic, war, and peace – highlighted in canonical texts – may enrich our today’s critical thinking and decision-making? What can we learn about ourselves and the world by reading Anna Karenina, or watching its film adaptation? What are the narrative and rhetorical choices made by legendary filmmakers in their revealed through the screen ‘truth’ about the past and present? We will examine the most intriguing issues of cinematic adaptation such as function of character in narrative, pacing of action in text and in film, role of landscape in verbal and visual arts, etc. We will discuss how the single elements of film technique – such as image composition, editing or sound, can re-create the main themes and plot elements of the literary work, or transform its original meaning and themes. Taught in English. May count toward International Film credit for Film Studies minor, or Russian Studies major/minor elective, or GE:HU requirement.
Screenings: Onegin (1999, Martha Fiennes), Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman), Anna Karenina (2012, Joe Wright), A Gentle Women (1969, Robert Bresson), War and Peace (1956, King Vidor), The Last Station (2009, Michael Hoffman), Vanya on the 42nd Street (1994, Louise Malle), Country Life (1995, Michael Blakemore), Winter Sleep (2014, Nuri Bilge Ceylan), and more in excerpts.
****RUS3220 counts towards the Multicultural/Transnational/International Film Cognate for the Fall 2023 semester****
FILM 3900-001: American and International Film History, Part I (FC: HU, GD)
Instructor: Dr. Anna Froula
Times Offered: T,Th: 11:00-12:15
Film Screenings: Streaming titles watched outside of class
Before George Clooney charmed, Clark Gable enchanted. Before Jim Carrey’s pratfalls, Buster Keaton coined the art of gag. Before Aunt Becky cheated, Fatty Arbuckle scandalized. How much have our stars, our stories, and our storytelling devices changed since the invention of cinema? Find out as we study the major films, genres, regulatory bodies, economic structures, and pure joy of cinema, both American and International, from the mid-1890s to the onset of World War II.
Films: Within Our Gates (Oscar Micheaux, 1920), The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer, 1928), The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland, 1927), I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932), The Gold Diggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933), The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938), It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934), The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
***FILM3900 counts toward the Film History Cognate for the Film Studies Minor AND
as an Art History Elective for Art Majors***
SUMMER CLASSES
POLS 3012: Politics Through Film
Instructor: Peter Francia
Times offered: online
Screening: streaming titles watched outside of class
Course description: According to the Motion Picture Association of America, more than one billion movie tickets are sold in a typical year in the United States and Canada. While most people go to the movies for mere entertainment, a good film can inspire its viewers, challenge people to think in new ways, and even educate its audience. The purpose of this course is to tap into the power of film to study, learn about, and deepen understanding of controversial social and political issues, public policies and laws, as well as civil liberties, civil rights, the electoral process, and political institutions.
Screenings: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), All the King’s Men (1949), 12 Angry Men (1957), Seven Days in May (1964), Network (1976), Do the Right Thing (1989), Dead Man Walking (1995), The Contender (2000), and The Lives of Others (2006).
**** POLS 3012 counts as an elective for Film Studies minor in Summer 2023****
SOCI 3035-601: Sociology Through Film
Instructor: Dr. Sitawa R. Kimuna
Class Times: Online
Film Screenings: Streaming titles watched outside of class
Course description: The course will examine the importance of film in shaping and creating cultural perceptions. The goal of the course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills to critically analyze film as it is organized and presented for public consumption. The course is designed to introduce students to issues of diversity. For example, what films teach us about social class, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and the different forms of disability, etc. We will go beyond overly simplified discussions of stereotypes to address cultural products subject to a variety of interpretations. Films can be viewed using Joyner Library’s streaming sites such as Films on Demand, Swank, or Kanopy and when possible some of the assigned films can be viewed using Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services.
Screenings: Hidden Figures (2016-2017, Theodore Melfi,); 12 Years A Slave (2013-2014, Steve McQueen); Toni Morrison: The Pieces I AM (2019, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders); The Hate U Give (2018, George Tillman Jr.); Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee); American Violet (2008, Tim Disney); The Blind Side (2009, John Lee Hancock); Crash (2004, Paul Haggis), and Black Panther (2018, Ryan Coogler).
**** SOCI 3035-601 counts as an elective for Film Studies minor in Summer 2023****
Film Studies at ECU 