Director: Jon Cowans
The Film Studies minor draws on a range of disciplines to allow students to examine a vital modern form of cultural expression. The 18-credit minor examines film as an art form, a form of entertainment, a business, and a political and social practice, tracing its evolution over time and its variants in different cultures. The minor primarily aims to develop students’ abilities to think critically about a central and highly influential facet of modern life, but it also seeks to help prepare students who are majoring in other fields such as business to work in the entertainment industry. All courses in the minor require and teach writing skills.
Students completing the minor will have learned about the historical evolution of film as an art form and a business in multiple countries; this knowledge should include an awareness of major styles, genres, directors, films, and controversies involving films; and major approaches to censorship used in various times and places, as well as arguments for and against censorship. They should be capable of thinking critically about films, identifying and analyzing many of the techniques they use (directing, casting, editing, etc.) to convey messages and images. Classes will also train students in writing about film, from reviews of individual films to essays of broader scope.
Below is a list of courses that qualify. To inquire about a specific course, consult with Professor Cowans.
AFRICAN AMERICAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES
014:255 Race and Gender in American Film
ENGLISH
350:205 Fiction into Film
350:363 Sp. Tpcs in Film: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock
350:363 Sp. Tpcs in Film: Westerners & Gangsters
350:363 Sp. Tpcs in Film: Studies in Film Noir
350:364 Sp. Tpcs in Film: Migration in Literature & Film
HISTORY
510:301 Film and History
510:314 Film and Colonialism
512:312 Trash Cinema and the Cultural Politics of Sleaze
512:313 Visions of the City in American Cinema
512:383 Culture and the Cold War
512:406 Tpcs American Popular Cultures, 1890-1945
512:406 Tpcs American Popular Cultures since 1945
512:408 Tpcs Soc-Cult Hist: Race & Popular Culture since 1945
28:510:300 (NJIT) Historical Probelms of the 20th Century Through Film
PORTUGUESE
810:348 Portuguese Film & Literature
810:349 Brazilian Film & Literature
810:350 Literature & Film of Portuguese-Speaking Africa
SPANISH
940:348 Hispanic Film & Lit.
940:417 Sem: Gabriel García Márquez in Lit. and Film
940:418 La Guerra Civil en memoria y historia: cine, arte literatura