Courses
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COM CI 101: History of Global Cinema 1: Origins through 1950s
An overview of history of global cinema from beginning of cinema through the 1950s. Introduces concepts of modes of production, national and transnational frameworks, film aesthetics, film authorship, and other factors that influenced production, circulation, and reception of films worldwide. This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area(s): Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. -
COM CI 102: Global Film History II: 1960s to the Present
Overview of global cinema from the 1960s to the present. Topics include international new waves from the 1960s to the 1980s; recent global art cinemas; American film from the decline of studio era to the blockbuster. -
COM CI 201: Literature and the Art of Film
Provides an overview of fundamental concepts for the analysis and understanding of film. Films are screened weekly and in conjunction with works of literature. Students must register for screening, discussion, and lecture. Also offered as CAS CI 201 and CAS EN 175. 4 cr. either sem. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression. -
COM CI 202: Understanding Film
This course introduces students to the scholarly study of film aesthetics. Students will learn to analyze film elements closely, from composition and editing to sound, across a variety of styles and genres of narrative, nonfiction and experimental film. -
COM CI 260: Modern Japanese Culture in Cinema
Japanese film from the silent era to contemporary animation, with attention to the intersection of cinematic and cultural analysis and genres such as yakuza movies. Directors studied may include Ozu, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Miyazaki Hayao. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. -
COM CI 263: Phil and Film
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COM CI 266: Twentieth Century Culture and the Italian Film
Development of Italian cinema after the Second World War, from the masterpieces of Neorealismo to the self-consciousness of the years of prosperity and decadence . Viewing of films and readings on film theory and criticism. Examination of cultural, political, psychological influence on the work of the director as author and reading on major film theories concerning the evolution of the language of cinema, cinema and counter cinema, "reality" versus surrealism, the image of woman in traditional cinema and screen as subconscious mirror. Films by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti , Liliana Cavani, Lina Wertmuller, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Matteo Garrone, Paolo Sorrentino. -
COM CI 268: Religion and Film
How do visual media influence spiritual sentiments, social prejudices, erotic boundaries, faith, and secularism? How does religion regulate the impact of film? This course considers religion on the Hollywood big screen and in video games, animation, and student cinema. Also offered as CAS CI 268. -
COM CI 269: Representations of the Holocaust in Literature and Film
Questions of representation in literature and film about the Holocaust, including testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, Ozick, and others; films include documentaries and feature films. Discussions of the Holocaust as historical reality, metaphor, and generative force in literature. Also offered as CAS RN 385 and CAS XL 281. -
COM CI 270: Israeli Culture through Film
Israeli society, from its origins to contemporary times, through the medium of film. Topics include immigration; Jewish religious life; war; the ongoing impact of the Holocaust on Israeli society; gender; and the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Introduction to film analysis and interpretive methods. Also offered as CAS LH 283 and CAS LH 453. -
COM CI 303: Understanding TV
The history of television (and its foundation in radio) as it emerged, stabilized, interacted with other media, was regulated and deregulated, and was shaped by and shaped the culture around it. The course focuses on broadcasting's beginnings, expansion, establishment as the national, mass medium in America, and eventual fracturing into niches. Also offered as COM FT 303. -
COM CI 320: Weimar Cinema
German silent and early sound films from Caligari to Hitler, viewed in the aesthetic context of contemporary and recent film theory and criticism and in the broader cultural context of the interwar Weimar Republic (1918-1933), with international points of comparison. Weekly screenings. Also offered as CAS LG 387. -
COM CI 321: Brazilian Cinema
An overview of Brazilian cinema in the 60s, 70s and 80s, its discourse on revolution and marginality, as well as its connection to artistic, musical, and literary movements. Focus on the work of avant-garde filmmakers and younger generations. Also includes attention to Cuban cinema. Taught in English. Also offered as CAS LP 310. -
COM CI 340: Jane Campion: A Girl's Own Story
In-depth study of Jane Campion, whose prolific output has largely resisted representing "the" woman's voice in her films, instead representing the voices of women rarely heard--a huge contribution as one of the few successful female directors working in a male-dominated industry. Also offered as CAS WS 305 E1. [ 4 cr.] -
COM CI 365: Modern Korean Culture Through Cinema
Introduction to modern Korean culture and society through film from the Korean war (1950-1953) to the present. Discussion and essays on modern Korean life as seen in Korean films. Critical analysis of changes in Korean society. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. -
COM CI 369: Greek Tragedy and Film
Explores Greek tragic myth's afterlife, both directly and obliquely, in cinema and in the modern literature spawning cinema: how certain Greek tragic myths have come to life as film and how "non-mythic" stories have acquired a mythic power in literary and cinematic form. Also offered as CAS CL 325. -
COM CI 373: Women and Film
Study of principally American films, exploring how the medium has shaped and been shaped by cultural perceptions of women. Readings provide background for interpretation of films ranging from screwball comedy to film noir, "women's films," and films by women directors. Also offered as CAS WS 346. -
COM CI 378: Modern Greek Culture and Film
Introduction to Greek cultural, social, historical, political, economic, and religious issues through a range of films that have reflected and shaped contemporary Greek society: entertainment, education, popular culture, propaganda, and identity, along with nation-building practices as reflected in Greek cinema. Also offered as CAS CG 357. -
COM CI 390: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies
May be repeated for credit if topic is different. Two topics are offered Fall 2018. Section A1: The Novel After Film: This course asks what it has meant to write in the shadow of film. How has film's formal novelty and popular ascendance changed the way novels have been conceived? Auster, Delillo, De Witt, Keaton, Kurosawa, Hitchcock and more. Also offered as CAS EN 375 A1. Section B1: Comic Geniuses: Sturges/Anderson. Intensive study of films written and directed by two comic geniuses, Preston Sturges and Wes Anderson. Readings in theories of comedy, literature, and film criticism relevant to their comic styles and subject matter. Weekly screenings. Also offered as CAS EN 375 B1. -
COM CI 420: Classical Hollywood Romantic Comedies and Melodramas
Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM FT 250
Discussion of romantic comedies and domestic melodramas made in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. These films set standards for dialogue writing, rich characterization, film performance, and story structure. Also offered as COM FT 401.
