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The Minor in Cinema Studies

Course Requirements for the Minor: 18 units

The following courses, or their approved transfer equivalents, are required of all candidates for this minor.

Approaches to Film: 6 units

2 courses selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
FLNG 380 Language and Culture in Film   3.0 FA  GE
Students examine films which, as cultural products of specific geo-linguistic areas, offer a key to understanding a society's language, history, and unique interests, concerns, practices, and perspectives. This course focuses each semester on a specific geo-linguistic area of film production. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (021181)
HUMN 281W Food and Film (W)   3.0 FS  GE  W
This course explores themes about food in international cinema, with special attention to the social, cultural and historical context for food as depicted in film, the cultural issues regarding national, ethnic and gender identity, and how the art and history of cinema have presented the many roles that food plays in our lives. 2 hours discussion, 3 hours laboratory. This is an approved Writing Course. This is an approved General Education course. (021204)
ITAL 260 Wellness and Renaissance in Film   3.0 FS  GE
This course uses films set during the Renaissance to offer an overview on a period of time that has given the world a series of unique innovations in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, politics, and sciences. A journey through the historical context and major themes of the political, literary, and visual culture produced in Italy between ca. 1300 and 1600 are the background of the course main focus: the examination of effective life changes occurred during the Renaissance. This is a combination of film screenings, lecture, and discussion. The use of media is intended to help students reflect upon the way in which the Renaissance phenomenon has been portrayed in western culture. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (021202)
RELS 365 Religion and Film   3.0 INQ  
An examination of the representation of religious concerns and meaning in modern film. Utilizing resources developed in religious traditions and in the field of religious studies, the course examines themes central to the human condition such as selfhood, religious conviction, despair, redemption, and race and ethnicity. 2 hours discussion, 3 hours laboratory. (008149)

Cinema and Anglophone Cultures: 3 units

1 course selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
ENGL 203 Shakespeare in Film   3.0 FS  GE
Through examining the texts and film interpretations of Shakespeare plays, students in this course develop a deeper understanding of both Shakespearean drama and the language of film. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (015856)
ENGL 303 Survey of American Film   3.0 FS  
Study and criticism of selected American films, with emphasis on their literary sources, their illustration of various literary conventions, and their use of language. 3 hours lecture. (003463)
ITAL 435 Italian American Cinema   3.0 INQ  
Course is taught in English. From the premise that the visual image is a most powerful tool in the creation and structuring of collective systems of values, this course focuses on the cinematic representation of Italian/Americans in the works of major American and Italian/American directors from the silent era to the present. The goal of this course is to explore to what extent recent films and televised series have been successful in rescuing Italian/Americans from negative ethnic typification. 3 hours lecture. (020851)
MADT 342 Documentary Film   3.0 SP  
Prerequisite: MADT 266.
The origins and major movements in the area of the documentary film. Students produce a documentary including research, screenwriting, development, preproduction, production and post-production. 2 hours lecture, 2 hours activity. (001683)
MADT 344 American Cinema   3.0 FS  
The course offers a survey of American film from historical, industrial, cultural, and stylistic perspectives. In Fall, the content of the course focuses on the beginnings of cinema until the 1950's; in Spring, the content of the course focuses on the 1960's to the present. Readings and screenings explore key American directors, genres, film movements, and technological advancements in relation to industrial and cultural shifts. Open to non-majors. 2 hours lecture, 2 hours activity. (001677)

Foreign Language Cinema: 3 units

1 course selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
GERM 480 Topics in German Cinema   3.0 INQ  
Course is taught in English; films in German with English subtitles. Study of selected films, themes, periods, genres, or directors in German cinema. Content varies. Topics are announced each semester offered. 3 hours discussion. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 12.0 units. (021817)
ITAL 482 Italian Cinema -- General History, Genres, and Trends   3.0 INQ  
The Italian Cinema as a creative art form has had a profound and lasting impact on world cinematography. The course will include Italian film history and the study of major trends and techniques. The relationship of the cinema to socio-political, economic, and literary events in Italy and the world will be studied: Neorealism, The Felliniesque, Spaghetti Western, Commedia all'Italiana, and more recent trends. The class is taught in English and all films have English subtitles. 3 hours discussion. (005111)
ITAL 483 Italian Cinema -- Great Film Directors   3.0 INQ  
Consists of a series of related in-depth monographic studies of such great film directors as De Sica, Visconti, Rossellini, Fellini, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Pasolini, the Tavianis, and Scola. The class is taught in English and all films have English subtitles. 3 hours discussion. (005112)
JAPN 381 Japan in Film   3.0 INQ  
This course is taught in English. It examines a variety of Japanese films involving the following cultural themes: roles of men and women, society, history, politics, education, theater, sports, music, industry, comedy, etc. In the process, the students examine and analyze the myths and realities of Japanese people as portrayed in the films. Discussions are designed to increase students' awareness of intercultural communication, to foster their preparedness for functioning in the complex order of Japanese society. All films have English subtitles. 3 hours lecture. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. (020182)
SPAN 481 Film and Literature in Spain and Latin America   3.0 INQ  
Prerequisites: SPAN 301; SPAN 341 or SPAN 342; or faculty permission.
Students will consider the elements that constitute literary and cinematic masterpieces by examining films based on a variety of texts: epic poetry, drama, short story, legend, novel, zarzuela, and filmscript. The films will represent the cultural and linguistic diversity in areas of Spain and Latin America. 3 hours discussion. (009183)

Electives: 3 units

3 units selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
MADT 351 Global Media and Convergence   3.0 FA  
The course explores distribution strategies adopted by international media industries in the era of globalization. Such strategies include: genre adaptation, content reformatting, audiovisual translation, and programming. 3 hours discussion. (020660)
MADT 352 Media Arts and Identity   3.0 SP  
Examines the creation and propagation of representations of identity, such as sexuality, ethnicity, race, nationality and class within film, video and electronic arts. 3 hours discussion. (020661)
MADT 353 World Cinema   3.0 SP  
Investigates the concept of world and national cinema within historical, economic, cultural, and theoretical contexts. 2 hours discussion, 2 hours activity. (020662)

or choose any course offered in one of the three sections above or any film course offered in the University, with the approval of the Humanities advisor.

Comparative Study: 3 units

1 course selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
ARTH 433W 20th Century Art (W)   3.0 INQ  W
An investigation of the history of modern art from the early-to-mid twentieth century. The course covers such movements as Cubism, Expressionism, Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Minimalism. An emphasis is placed on understanding how art relates to critical debates and social and historical contexts. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Writing Course. (000777)
ARTH 441W Contemporary Art (W)   3.0 FS  W
An investigation of artists and issues in the global contemporary art world. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Writing Course. (000838)
ARTH 484 History of Photography   3.0 FA  
The development of photography from roots in classical and medieval discoveries to the present, its role in historical documentation, its reciprocal influence upon the arts, its contribution to science, and its importance as an extension of human vision. Non-silver processes and fusion of photography with computer and other media will be examined. Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston are among the photographers to be considered. 3 hours lecture. (000773)
ENGL 451 Modern Poetry   3.0 FA  
Study of twentieth-century British, American, Continental, and Latin American poetry. 3 hours seminar. (003543)
ENGL 453 Modern Drama   3.0 FS  
British, Continental, and American drama from Ibsen to the present. Topics vary from semester to semester. 3 hours seminar. (003549)
ENGL 454 Comparative Literature   3.0 FS  
Comparative study of major genres, themes, and literary figures in literature. Topics vary from semester to semester. 3 hours seminar. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. (003552)
ENGL 461 The Modern Novel   3.0 FS  
British, American, Continental, and Latin American novels in the twentieth century. 3 hours seminar. (003562)
MUSC 290 Introduction to the World of Music   3.0 SP  GE  GC
A survey of the elements of music and diverse cultures and values in relation to music. Representative examples are drawn from the traditions of Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia, including classical, folk, and popular idioms. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved Global Cultures course. (006053)
MUSC 292 Great Musical Compositions and Composers   3.0 FS  GE
A survey of seminal compositions and composers from western art music history. Musical traditions, compositional techniques, performance mediums, and the compositional background of individual works and composers, and the effects of political, social and philosophical issues upon the compositions and composers studies are explored. 3 hours discussion. This is an approved General Education course. (006183)
MUSC 293 History of Jazz   3.0 SP  
The historical and philosophical study of jazz from its African origins to the various forms in which it exists today. 3 hours lecture. (006184)
MUSC 294 History of Rock Music   3.0 FA  
An in-depth study of Rock and Roll music and culture as it relates to the development and changes in American and world social orders. A study of the impact of Rock and Roll on social, economic, cultural and political structures. 3 hours lecture. (006186)
PHIL 217 Existentialism   3.0 FS  GE
An examination of existentialism from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to Sartre, and de Beauvoir. An analysis of the basic forces, concepts, and figures which have shaped existentialism. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (021534)
PHIL 303W History of 19th Century Philosophy (W)   3.0 FA  GE  W
Western philosophical thought from Kant through the twentieth century, including the phenomenological and analytic traditions in western philosophy. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Writing Course. This is an approved General Education course. (007183)
PHIL 305 Continental Philosophy   3.0 F2  
The phenomenological movement and its impact on philosophy, literature, and psychology, with attention to Husserl's views on mind, body, and intersubjectivity and Heidegger's ideas of being-in-the-world, authenticity, and death. 3 hours seminar. (007204)
PHIL 382 Sartre and Camus   3.0 S2  
Intensive reading and discussion of the writing of Satre & Camus. 3 hours seminar. (007309)
PHIL 384 Aesthetics   3.0 F1  
A philosophical study of the nature and significance of art, with references to relevant works. The course considers such themes as the beautiful, the sublime, comedy, tragedy and the social psychological dimensions of art as well as the periods of Romanticism, Modernism, Postmodernism. 3 hours lecture. (020624)
RELS 403 Religion and the Arts   3.0 F1  
This course is designed to examine the ways religion helps shape artistic expression and how various art forms-music, architecture, visual arts, storytelling, and film-serve as means of religious expression. We explore both traditional "sacred" art (e.g. temples, mosques, churches) as well as popular art (novels, movies, etc.) that have been shaped by religious themes. We explore the role of the arts in a number of different religious traditions. 3 hours seminar. (021622)
THEA 251 World Theatre   3.0 FA  GE  GC
This is a survey course examining theatrical performance throughout the world focusing primarily on non-western forms. It examines representative examples of theatrical performance within specific cultures or geographic locations and explores the social and cultural connections between performance and society. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved Global Cultures course. (021114)
THEA 252 Politics, Performance, and Power   3.0 FS  GE
This course serves as an introduction to the connections between theatre and politics, ranging from traditional theatre to performance art. It examines the nature of political theatre and performance and introduces key figures such as Bertolt Brecht, Augusto Boal, and Guillermo Gomez-Pena. Students see live performance, read theoretical and performance texts, and develop a critical discourse about the nature of politics, power, and performance. Students also engage in performance practice as well as theory, formulating a creative work in response to a contemporary performance issue. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (021151)
THEA 315 Performance of Identity   3.0 FS  GE  USD
This course is also offered as MCGS 315.
A study of identity as expressed through performance in theatre and other media. The course focuses on issues of race, gender, and sexuality. Students see live performances, read classic and contemporary performance texts, and gain exposure to key figures who engage with identity politics in performance in the contemporary consciousness. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (009520)
Catalog Cycle:19