Courses

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  • CAS CI 394: Topics in Film and Literature
    Major themes and techniques of filmmakers and writers are explored. May be repeated for credit if topic is different. Two topics are offered Spring 2019. Section A1: Film Noir. Intensive study of film noir in both its classic and revisionist periods, informed by readings in hard-boiled detective fiction. Topics include: gender divisions, fatal plotting, the death drive, sex and cigarettes. Weekly screenings. Section B1: Melodrama in Japanese Cinema and Literature. Uses Japan as case study to examine melodrama in world film/literature. Considers how genre helps us to better understand a work of art, how cultural differences challenge that understanding, and how melodramatic works explore gender, cultural identity, morality, and sexuality.
  • CAS CI 510: Critical Studies in Literature and the Arts
    Topic for Spring 2019: Film Theory. Survey of the writing and thinking of influential theorists and critics. Includes screenings of films relevant to the theoretical discussions, and questions how films offer their own ideas about the nature of film.
  • CAS CI 530: Topics in TV Genre Studies
    Two topics are offered for Fall 2018. Students may take one or both for credit. Section A1: TV Genres and Fandom. TV programs have huge fan bases, whether cult audiences, fanboys and fangirls, or X-Philes and Trekkies. Scholarship on reception theory and fan studies is used to explore multiple television genres and their connections to enduring varieties of fandom. Section B1: Broadcasting Horror. Examines the censorship of horror; horror's relation to sound; the aesthetics of TV horror; horror and genre mixing; the serialization of horror; broadcast vs. cable horror; and the violence of horror. Two topics are offered for Spring 2019. Students may take one or both for credit. Section A1: Comic Book TV: Section B1: TV Comedy.
  • CAS CI 533: Topics in Film Movements
    May be repeated for credit if topic is different. Topic for Spring 2019: TBA.
  • CAS CI 551: Topics in Auteur Studies
    Topic for Fall 2018: Renoir and Bunuel. Surveys the careers of two of cinema's greatest and most admired directors: Jean Renoir and Luis Bunuel. Both directors had long careers, stretching from the late silent era into the 1970s, working in France, Spain, the U.S., Mexico, and India
  • CAS CI 562: French Cinema and Literature
    Analysis of classic French films by Vigo, Renoir, Carne, Malle, Bresson, Godard, and Truffaut as well as later twentieth and early twenty-first century works. Weekly screenings, reading of literary models and film theory. Also offered as CAS LF 556.
  • CAS CI 583: TV Theory and Criticism
    This discussion-driven seminar sets aside evaluative considerations of TV in favor of theoretical and critical approaches that challenge widespread assumptions about the medium and expand our understanding of its role in our lives.
  • CAS CI 588: Writing Film and TV Criticism
    Examines the art of film and television criticism and gives students extensive practice in writing about film and TV in a way that balances informed, insightful analysis and lively writing. Key critics discussed include James Agee, Andrew Sarris, Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert, Emily Nussbaum, Matt Zoller Seitz, Anthony Lane, Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott.
  • CAS CI 590: Special Topics in Cinema and Media Studies
    Five topics are offered for Spring 2019. May be repeated for credit if section topic differs. Section A1: Contemporary American Film. Section B1: Critical TV Industry Studies. A scholarly reading and discussion-driven seminar that conceptualizes the US television industry as a complex site of negotiation between producers and audiences, labor and management, creativity and commerce, and government and corporations. Section C1: The Mexican Revolution Revisited. Study of literary and cinematic representations of the Mexican Revolution in a transnational context as well as against the background of Mexico's post-revolutionary hegemonic nationalist culture. Please note: as course is taught in Spanish, advanced knowledge of Spanish is required. Section D1: Scandinavian Cinema. Traces the major discourses that have developed around the Dogme'95 movement. Class studies the work, vision, influences and contribution of Lars Von Trier to the New Scandinavian Cinema and its assorted practitioners. Section F1: Global French Cinema. Spanning from the silent era to the present-day, this course reframes the key movements of French cinema through the lens of the global. Directors include Georges Melies, Jean Renoir, Jean-Luc Godard, Chantal Ackerman, Agnes Varda, and the Dardenne brothers.
  • CAS CI 594: Topics in Film and Literature
    Major themes and techniques of filmmakers and writers are explored. May be repeated for credit if topic is different. Topic for Spring 2019: Topic for Spring 2019: Alan Hollinghurst and Queer Cinema. Intensive study of five novels by Alan Hollinghurst, probably the best writer of gay fiction working today, examined in relation to thematically relevant queer films. Note: Some of the works contain sexually explicit material.
  • CAS CL 101: The World of Greece
    The literature, philosophy, art, and culture of ancient Greece and their impact on the Western tradition. Topics covered include the emergence of epic poetry; art and lyric in the Archaic Age; drama, architecture, philosophy, and political developments of classical Athens and Greece. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS CL 102: The World of Rome
    An introduction to the world of the ancient Romans, as viewed in their literature, culture, and art. Discusses their origins, army, family life, religion, and education, and their legacy in our own time. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS CL 111: Latin 1
    Introduction to grammar, forms, and vocabulary of classical Latin.
  • CAS CL 112: Latin 2
    Further study of Latin grammar, forms, and vocabulary.
  • CAS CL 115: Intensive Latin
    Intensive Latin grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, equivalent to the two-semester introductory Latin sequence (CAS CL 111/112) and covered in a single semester. Completion of this course prepares students for second-year Latin courses (CAS CL 211/212).
  • CAS CL 121: What Is a Good Life? Ancient Wisdom and Modern Insights
    Close examination of literary and philosophical texts from the ancient world and modern psychology that address the question of what constitutes a good life. Themes include: selfhood and the pursuit of happiness, individualism and communities, love, and health. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS CL 161: Greek 1
    Introduction to grammar, forms, and vocabulary of ancient Greek.
  • CAS CL 162: Greek 2
    Further study of ancient Greek grammar, forms, and vocabulary.
  • CAS CL 202: Warfare in Antiquity
    Examines both strategic and tactical aspects of warfare in antiquity, as well as the political, social, and economic factors that shaped or derived from the experience of ancient battle. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • CAS CL 205: Origins of Writing
    Overview of the world's major writing systems: Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs; Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform; West Semitic consonantal scripts (abjads); East Asian scripts; runes; Greek and Roman alphabets. Considerable linguistic component supplemented by historical information about ancient languages and cultures. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Also offered as CAS LX 205. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Teamwork/Collaboration

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