A comprehensive list of courses the program offers currently and in past semesters is located on the BU Bulletin. The drop down menus below feature courses offered by the CIMS Program and Affiliated programs in the titled semester.
CIMS Courses & The BU Hub. See what HUB Units our courses count for!
Spring 2023
Spring 2023
CAS CI 102, History of Global Cinema II
M – discussion sections; W 2:30pm-5:15pm (screening); F 2:30pm-4:15pm (Lecture)
This course provides an overview of film history in a number of different national traditions, from the 1960s to the present. It covers the emergence of the key international film movements, alongside the economic and historical conditions that inform them. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
CAS CI 263, Philosophy and Film
TR 9:30am-10:45am; varying discussion sections
This class provides an introduction philosophical and aesthetic issues connected with film. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
Cross-List: CAS PH 159
CAS CI 266, Italian Cinema (in English translation) – TR 11:00am-12:15pm
MWF 2:30pm-3:20pm
A portrait of modern Italian life as seen through cinema and screenplays. Films by Fellini, Bertolucci, Bellocchio (based on works by Pirandello, Calvino, Moravia, Pasolini) illustrate aspects of Italian cultural development in the twentieth century.
Cross-list: CAS LI 283 A1
CAS CI 268, Religion and Film
MWF 1:25pm-2:15pm
Films from around the world, which depict religious heroes and communities and the quest for religiosity. Supplementary readings from cinema studies and diverse religious traditions. Writing assignments include academic essays, film reviews, and a film journal.
Cross-list: CAS XL 270 A1 / CAS RN 203 A1
CAS CI 269, Holocaust Literature & Film
Staff
TR 2:00pm-3:15pm
How can we understand the impact of the Holocaust and its ongoing legacies? Holocaust representation in literature, film and memorials, including discussions of bystander complicity and societal responsibilities, testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, documentaries and feature films. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Ethical Reasoning.
Cross-list: CAS XL 281/ CAS JS 261
CAS CI 330, Film Genres & Movements: East European Political Film
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
An intensive exploration of a particular cinematic genre or movement, paying special attention to how individual films respond to an existing traditions and to the historical and cultural contexts underpinning artistic change. How do genres grow and evolve across historical, cultural and institutional settings? How do particular cinematic movements respond to particular cultural challenges? Topic for Spring 2023: East European Political Film: The course focuses on the cinema of “the other Europe” from the 1950s onward and the innovations it introduces to film as an artistic medium, as well as its subversive function in opposing various types of oppression. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation.
Cross-List: CAS EN 329
CAS CI 352, Auteur Film: Claire Denis
TR: 2pm-3:15pm
An intensive exploration of the work of a single filmmaker or group of filmmakers, paying special attention to theoretical problems of authorship and artistic control. How do filmmakers respond to studio pressure, historical events or government censorship? How do personal styles develop and transform in a collaborative medium? What does it mean to think of the director or writer or producer of a film as its author?Topic for Spring 2023: Claire Denis. Presents French filmmaker Claire Denis (1946- ) as an artist dedicated to relationality. She represents not discreet items but networks of physical and symbolic connections–connections that form and dissolve among races, genders, sexualities, bodies, and species. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Aesthetic Exploration.
This course features a video-project component that will teach students key film productions skills.
Cross-List: CAS EN 385
CAS CI 353, Stalin-Gulag and Genocide
Leigh-Valles
TR 11am-12:15pm
History, poetry and prose written in the genocidal conditions of Stalinist Russia, when the revolutionary euphoria and artistic innovation of the 1920s came up against the political repression and violence of the modern totalitarian state. Readings and films from some of the greatest poets, directors and prose writers of the 20th century display the richness of modern Russian literature as well as the complex interplay of political power, cinema and the written word, of murderous history and the creative imagination, during the Ukraine famine-genocide and the gulags.
Cross-List: CAS LR 353
CAS CI 362, African Cinema
Staff
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Discussion of African films in their social and historical contexts and specificities of production practices. Primary topics of interest include traditional values, practices and social change; education; popular culture and urban life; politics; migration; the youth; sexuality and gender relations.
Cross-List: CAS XL 386
CAS CI 363, Screening Modern China (in English Translation)
TR 2pm-3:15pm
Major Chinese films interpreted in light of modern Chinese history and culture. Focus on questions of national and cultural identity in films from the 1980s to the present day by directors from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In English. Also offered as CAS LC 287 A1. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
Cross-List: CAS LC 287
CAS CI 383, Auteurs: Japan
T 12:30pm-3:15pm
Deep exploration of the films of one director with attention to cultural and historical context and the creative process. Topic for Spring 2023: Kurosawa Akira. Attention to Kurosawa’s film style, global reception, and his complex reflections on Japanese history and the nature of cinema and art. Readings in English and all films available with English subtitles. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
Cross-List: CAS LJ 383
CAS CI 386, Fascism and the Holocaust in Italy
TR 11am-12:15pm
The Fascist regime and the Holocaust in Italy: how the civic status of Italian Jews changed from the beginnings of discrimination against them to deportations of 1943, posing larger questions about bigotry and racism, and the role of bystander complicity. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
Cross-list: CAS LI 386 / CAS JS 366
This course counts as a genre/movement Course
CAS CI 390. Migrant Narratives in Film
TR 11am-12:45pm
Migrant Narratives in Film. The course explores an array of global cinematic representations of migrant experience while relying on theoretical writings on the concepts of hybridity, migrancy, internal colonialisms and transculturation. We will discuss a broad range of filmmakers, styles and cross-cultural encounters as well as the works’ social implications.
Cross-List: CAS EN 375
CAS CI 512, Film and Media Theory
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
Introduction to film and media theory as a mode of inquiry. What happens when we render the world as an image? How do cinematic images differ from other forms of image-making? What does it mean to be a spectator? Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
Cross-List: CAS EN 569
Affiliated Courses
Seats in the following courses are not guaranteed to CIMS students, but can be recognized for certain requirements should they be taken.
CAS AH 392 A1, Twentieth Century Art from 1940-1980
Williams
MWF 1:25-2:15pm
Explores major currents in European and American art made between 1940 and 1980. Examines the following movements and media in relation to postwar culture and politics: abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism, conceptual art, earthworks, performance, and video. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
This course counts as a non-cinematic media course
CAS AH 395 A1, History of Photography
Graves
TR 11am-12:15pm
An introduction to the study of photographs. The history of the medium in Europe and America from its invention in 1839 to the present. After lectures on photographic theory and methodology, photographs are studied both as art objects and as historical artifacts. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
This course counts as a non-cinematic media course
CAS EN 170 A1, The Graphic Novel
Staff
MWF 11:15am-12:05pm
Examination of the rise, nature, and status of the contemporary book-length graphic novel. Topics include graphic vs. traditional novel, word and image, style and space, representations of subjectivity, trauma, and history. Authors may include Spiegelman, Bechdel, Nakazawa, Sacco, Satrapi, Backderf. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation.
This course counts as a non-cinematic media course
CAS WS 329 LGBTQI+ Representation in Film
McEvoy
M 6:3pm-9:15pm
Queer films challenge norms and undermine categories of gender and sex. Drawing on scholarship from a variety of disciplines the course explores sexual identity and representation in relation to history and other constituting experiences of race, class, gender, and nationality.
This course counts as an elective course
CAS SO 253, Sociology of Popular Culture
Mears
TR 11am-12:15pm
Sociological perspectives on popular culture and mass media, with a focus on the consumption and production of cultural goods; the effects of popular culture on politics and inequalities; and the mutual interdependence of consumer identities and cultural fields. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry I.
This course counts as an elective course
**** COM course disclaimer: Spots in COM courses are not guaranteed to CIMS students. Please contact the faculty member teaching the course to inquire about space. The Following COM classes, are ones we would like to highlight. For a full list of COM courses please visit the BU Bulletin.
COM FT 250, Understanding Film
Guarana
M, W 2:30pm-4:15pm; discussions F – various times
Understanding Film introduces students to key aesthetic aspects of film. Students study a variety of historical and contemporary examples of fiction and nonfiction films that illustrate the expressive possibilities of image and sound. Students learn to analyze, explain and write about these formal elements. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
This counts as a course in film aesthetics (CI 200)
COM FT 303, Understanding TV
Howell
Lecture MW 10:10 a.m. – 11:55 a.m., additional discussion section required
This course examines television (and its foundation in radio) as it emerged, stabilized as an aesthetic and technological form, interacted with other media, was regulated and deregulated, and was shaped by and shaped the culture around it. We will use the sitcom and soap opera genres as aesthetic through-lines for this study and examine their evolution in historical contexts. Throughout the semester, we focus on broadcasting’s beginnings, expansion, establishment as the national, mass medium in America, and eventual fracturing into niches. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
This counts as a course in Non-Cinematic Media
COM FT 458 A1, International Masterworks
Guarana
T 12:30-3:15pm; R 1:30-3:15pm
An eclectic and unsystematic survey of a small number of the supreme masterworks of international film created by some of the greatest artists of the past eighty years. The focus in on cinematic style. What does style do? Why are certain cinematic presentations highly stylized? What is the difference from realistic, representational work? We will consider the special ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling that highly stylized works of art create and devote all of our attention to the function of artistic style and form to create new experiences and ways of thinking and feeling.
This course counts as an elective course
COM FT 554 A1, Film Violence
Guarana
MW 10:10am-11:55am
Youth and Childhood in World Cinema
This course counts as an elective course
COM FT 554 E1, The Musical
Grundmann
M 6:30pm-9:15pm; R 11am-1:15pm
This class charts the history of the musical from its beginnings to the post-classical Hollywood era, and it also seeks to examine the musical in terms of genre theory, investigating how the genre’s inherently hybrid form has sprouted various permutations over its history. The course covers such sub-genre as the Black-cast Musical of the early sound era, the Backstage or Show Musical, and the Folk Musical. The course moves from the classical period (Busby Berkeley’s Depression era musicals, Astaire/Rogers, Arthur Freed’s MGM Musical Unit) to the post-classical era to investigate questions of realism, fantasy, genre permutations (is Saturday Night Fever a musical?) and new developments such as the juke box musical (Moulin Rouge). Film include West Side Story, Cabaret, Chicago, and many more.
This course counts as a genre course
COM FT 567 A1, Film Styles
Ray Carney
TR 9:30am-10:45pm
The style of a stylized film is its strangest, most mysterious, and, often, most wonderful quality. Style begins where realism and representation end. It is all those things a film can do to reprogram our brains that have nothing to do with putting the world we see and hear in our ordinary lives on screen. It involves narrative distortions, weird photographic, editorial, and acoustic effects, strange events, and eccentric characters–all in the service of attempting to alter our definition of “reality.” We will look at some of the most bizarre movies ever made, along with a few apparently (but only apparently) “normal” films that have more insidious designs on our consciousnesses, that aspire to change our understandings of experience in subtler ways. No pre-requisites and no permission required. (this course fulfills the foreign cinema requirement)
This course can count as an elective
Language-Specific Courses
CAS LK 440 A1 Korean Media
Lee
MWF 11:15am-12:05pm
Intensive practice of both oral and written forms of Korean. Survey of important cultural, social, political, and economic issues in Korea as portrayed in films, television, and periodicals. Development of effective written and spoken communication.
This course counts as an elective
CAS LR 312 A1 Russia on Screen
Staff
MWF 10:10am-11:00am
Watch original unabridged Russian films and read scripts. Intensive work on improvement of fluency and quality of expression in Russian; special attention to pronunciation.
This course counts as an elective
CAS LS 308 Spanish Through Film and New Media
A1: Alarcon Bustos – MWF 11:15am-12:05pm
B1: Monet-Viera – MWF 12:20pm-1:10pm
C1: Carrion-Guerrero – TR 11am-12:15pm
Advanced study of the Spanish language through the analysis of films and media of the Spanish- speaking world: cinema, the internet, and social media. Several topics are offered Spring 2022. Section A1: Spanish Through the Horror Genre. Advanced Spanish language through the enjoyment and analysis of the Horror genre. Authentic cultural sources include short and feature-length films, as well as macabre art and media. Reading, discussion, and a mix of creative and critical writing. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
This course counts as an elective
CAS LF 308 French Through Film and Media
A1: Staff – MWF 9;05-9:55am
B1: Dusewoir – MWF 11:15am-12:05pm
With the goal of better understanding French and Francophone culture and society, students study various media forms that can include film, written and broadcast press, television, podcasts, blogs, and social media. Topic for Spring 2022: What’s so Funny About Love? This course examines French romantic comedies in film & TV to define and question the genre. Students analyze rom-coms to discover cultural differences and explore issues of gender, race, class, and family dynamics. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
This course counts as an elective
Fall 2023
Fall 2023
CAS CI 101 A1, History of Global Cinema I: Origins through 1950s
M discussion sections; W 2:30pm-5pm (screening); F 2:30pm-4:15pm (Lecture)
This course provides an overview of film history in a number of different national traditions, from the origins of film through the 1950s. It covers the emergence of the key international film movements, alongside the economic and historical conditions that inform them. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
Counts as a Film History Course
CAS CI 200 A1, Intro to Film & Media Aesthetics
M (screening) 6:30pm-9:15pm; TR (lecture & discussion sections) 2:00pm-3:15pm
Introduction to fundamental concepts for the analysis/understanding of film and media. Key concepts of formal composition (e.g. editing, mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and more) over a diverse set of media texts. Foundational skills in analysis appropriate to film, television and moving- image media. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration.
Cross-list: CAS EN 176
Counts as an Aesthetics of Film and Media Course
CAS CI 260, Modern Japanese Culture in Cinema (in English Translation)
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
Cross-List: CAS LJ 283 A1
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS CI 269 A1, Representations of the Holocaust in Literature and Film
TR 11:00am-12:15pm
How can we understand the impact of the Holocaust and its ongoing legacies? Holocaust representation in literature, film and memorials, including discussions of bystander complicity and societal responsibilities, testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, documentaries and feature films. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Ethical Reasoning.
Cross-list: CAS XL281 A1, GRS RN685 A1, CAS JS261 A1
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS CI 270 A1, Israeli Culture through Film (in English translation)
TR 9:30am-10:45am
Israeli society through the medium of film. Topics include immigration; religious life; war; the Holocaust ; gender; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Practice in film analysis and interpretive methods.
Cross-list: CAS LH283 A1, CAS JS283 A1
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS CI 352 A1, Auteur Filmmaking: Celine Sciamma & Sebastien Lifshitz
W 2:30pm-5:15pm
An intensive exploration of the work of a single filmmaker or group of filmmakers, paying special attention to theoretical problems of authorship and artistic control. How do filmmakers respond to studio pressure, historical events or government censorship? How do personal styles develop and transform in a collaborative medium? What does it mean to think of the director or writer or producer of a film as its author? Course content varies by semester. Topic for Fall 2023: Celine Sciamma & Sebastien Lifshitz. This course centers on the fiction films of Celine Sciamma and the documentaries of Sebastien Lifshitz, two contemporary French auteurs who explore themes of childhood, female adolescence, gender identity, and LGBTQ+ representation. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Aesthetic Exploration.
Cross-List: CAS EN 385 A1
Counts as an Auteur Filmmaking Course
CAS CI 363 A1, Screening Modern China (in English Translation)
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
Major Chinese films interpreted in light of modern Chinese history and culture. Focus on questions of national and cultural identity in films from the 1980s to the present day by directors from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In English. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
Cross-List: CAS LC 287 A1
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS CI 365 A1, Modern Korean Culture Through Cinema
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Introduction to Korean Cinema from the early 20th century to the present. Discussion and essays on ethics of representation, colonialism, wars, state violence against citizens, psychological violence, sexual violence. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
Cross-List: CAS LK 383 A1
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS CI 367 A1, Studies in Non-Cinematic Media
Staff
MWF 12:20pm-1:10pm
This course covers a range of aesthetic and cultural issues related to non- cinematic media, encompassing the study of photography, television, video art, video and online gaming, new media and more. Topics vary by semester. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation. Topic for Fall 2023: TBA
Cross-list: CAS EN 365 A1
Counts as a Non-Cinematic Media Course
CAS CI 378 A1, Modern Greek Culture and Film
MWF 12:20pm-1:10pm
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- and nation-building practices as reflected in Greek cinema. Also offered as CAS CG 357. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
Cross-list: CAS CG 357 A1
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS CI 387 A1, The Holocaust Through Film
TR 11:00am-12:15pm
An examination of film using the Holocaust as its central topic. What are the political and cultural effects when genocide is represented through film? Can feature films portray history, and if so, what are the consequences for an informed society? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing- Intensive Course.
Cross-list: CAS XL 387 A1, JS 367 A1
Counts as a Genre/Movement Course
CAS CI 387 B1, The Holocaust Through Film
TR 2:00pm-3:15pm
An examination of film using the Holocaust as its central topic. What are the political and cultural effects when genocide is represented through film? Can feature films portray history, and if so, what are the consequences for an informed society? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing- Intensive Course.
Cross-list: CAS XL 387 B1, JS 367 B1
Counts as a Genre/Movement Course
CAS CI 395 A1, Inhuman Films: Genders, Animals, Machines
MWF 2:30pm-3:15pm
This course explores what happens to the “human” at the intersection of feminist theory and cinematic representation. How and why do films assign humanity to some figures and withhold it from others on the basis of race, gender, “ability,” etc.? Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
Cross-list: CAS WS 395 A1
Counts as a Genre/Movement Course
CAS CI 490 A1, Topics in Cinema & Media Studies
Staff
12:30-1:45pm
Topic TBA
CAS CI 512 A1, Film and Media Theory
TR 11:00am-12:15pm
Introduction to film and media theory as a mode of inquiry. What happens when we render the world as an image? How do cinematic images differ from other forms of image-making? What does it mean to be a spectator? Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
Cross-List: CAS EN 569 A1
Counts as a Film and Media Theory Course
Fall 2023 Affiliated Courses
The following courses are not guaranteed to CIMS students, but can be recognized for certain requirements should they be taken.
CAS AN 397 A1, Anthropology & Film: Ways of Seeing
Haeri
R 3:30pm-6:15pm
Considers the history and development of anthropological, ethnographic, and transcultural filmmaking. In-depth examination of important anthropological films in terms of methodologies, techniques, and strategies of expression; story, editing, narration, themes, style, content, art, and aesthetics. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS AR 576, Motion Graphics
A1: Grady W 8am-10:45am
B1: Field W 8am-10:45am
C1: Field W 2:30pm-5:15pm
Introduction to methods and processes of creating motion graphics for broadcast and cinema. The focus is on story-telling in a time-based context through ambient and linear narratives. Students will consider how design elements–such as type, image, framing, pacing, rhythm, sequencing and sound–influence time-based narratives. Students will broaden their individual aesthetic by exploring a variety of mediums from analog to digital formats and animate with Flash and After Effects.
Counts as a Non-Cinematic Media Course
CAS HI 300 A1, American Popular Culture
Blower
MWF 2:30pm-3:20pm
Examines how Americans have changed (and haven’t) since the nineteenth century by exploring their curious beliefs, social and sexual practices, and changing understandings of selfhood. Topics include Victorian etiquette, modern city pleasures, racial stereotyping, dating rituals, family dynamics, and more. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS HI 408 A1, War in Film and Literature
Nolan
T 12:30pm-3:15pm
This course explores, through works of film and literature, human experiences of combat, suffering, and death. Topics range from medieval Japan to Africa, the Americas and Europe, WWI, WWII, and various “small wars” from the 19th through 21st centuries.
Counts as a Genre/Movement Course
CAS SO 253 A1, Sociology of Popular Culture
Staff
MWF 11:15am-12:05pm
Sociological perspectives on popular culture and mass media, with a focus on the consumption and production of cultural goods; the effects of popular culture on politics and inequalities; and the mutual interdependence of consumer identities and cultural fields. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry I.
Counts as an Elective Course
**** COM course disclaimer: Spots in COM courses are not guaranteed to CIMS students. Please contact the faculty member teaching the course to inquire about space.The Following COM classes, are ones we would like to highlight. For a full list of COM courses please visit the BU Bulletin.
COM FT 250, Understanding Film
Guarana
Lecture MW 2:30pm-4:15pm, additional discussion section required
Understanding Film introduces students to key aesthetic aspects of film. Students study a variety of historical and contemporary examples of fiction and nonfiction films that illustrate the expressive possibilities of image and sound. Students learn to analyze, explain and write about these formal elements. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
Course counts as a Film Aesthetics Course.
COM FT 303, Understanding TV
Howell
Lecture MW 10:10am-11:55am., additional discussion section required
This course examines television (and its foundation in radio) as it emerged, stabilized as an aesthetic and technological form, interacted with other media, was regulated and deregulated, and was shaped by and shaped the culture around it. We will use the sitcom and soap opera genres as aesthetic through-lines for this study and examine their evolution in historical contexts. Throughout the semester, we focus on broadcasting’s beginnings, expansion, establishment as the national, mass medium in America, and eventual fracturing into niches. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
This counts as a course in Non-Cinematic Media.
COM FT 520 A1, Television Studies
Jaramillo
T 12:30pm-3:15pm
As an omnipresent site of entertainment and information, “reality” and fantasy, “quality” and “trash,” and commerce and the public interest, television requires an active, critical analysis of its texts, uses, and production of meaning. Students in this class will engage in such analysis, confronting television as a rich and contradictory site of entertainment, culture, politics, ideology, and signs. 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. These approaches, which constitute some of the dominant frameworks in Television Studies, include analyses of culture, industry, narrative, genre, images and sounds, liveness, and the television schedule. This course fulfills the additional TV Studies course requirement. Pre-req: FT303.
Course counts as a Non-Cinematic Media course or Film and Media Theory requirement
COM FT 545, Television and Childhood
Guarana
MW 12:20pm-2:05pm
Children represent an important target for mediated messages. However, there are important rules, ethics and differences we should keep in mind when creating content for this audience. In this class, we will consider the effects messages have on behavior and development in younger populations. We will also consider design and programming decisions that influence these effects.
Counts as a Non-Cinematic Media Course
COM FT 554 A1, Latin American Melodrama
Guarana
MW 10:10am-11:55am
Despite its immense popularity during the so-called Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, melodrama in Latin America has been relegated to the corners of “unserious” cinema, often criticized for mimicking the lowbrow telenovela format so popular across the region. In this course, we will investigate key aspects of melodrama as a mode and as genre following debates in film studies and applying this genre theory to Latin American cinema. Our goals will be to trace melodramatic traditions, innovations, and deviations in Latin American cinema as well as to find melodrama in film texts labeled otherwise.
Program requirement decided in consultation with student’s CIMS Advisor
COM FT 554 B1, New Brazilian Cinema
Guarana
R 11:30am-3:15pm
Since the so-called rebirth of Brazilian cinema in 1995, filmmakers have demonstrated a strong interest in making spaces for bodies and voices traditionally marginalized in popular culture. This course aims at developing a theory of cinema and identity in relationship to spectatorship and film politics that can be translated into other case studies. We will thus investigate how films shape, negotiate, and contest the nation and notions of identity more broadly. The Brazilian mediascape presents itself as an arena in which exclusionary nationalist discourses battle with claims of participation that challenge, and even disrupt, the hegemonic order. Finally, the course hopes to also assess the validity and worth of national frameworks for analyzing and studying cinema through the case study of contemporary Brazilian cinema.
Program requirement decided in consultation with student’s CIMS Advisor
COM FT 554 D1, Broadcast Horror
Jaramillo
M 6:30pm-9:15pm
Full course descriptions and addt’l information on Fall 2023 Special Topics in Studies in FTV newsletter. Email filmtv@bu.edu for more information.
Program requirement decided in consultation with student’s CIMS Advisor
COM FT 554 E1, Stardom
Burr
R 12:30pm-3:15pm
Full course descriptions and addt’l information on Fall 2023 Special Topics in Studies in FTV newsletter. Email filmtv@bu.edu for more information.
Program requirement decided in consultation with student’s CIMS Advisor
COM FT 556, Independent Film Part 1 (The Foundational Masterworks)
Carney
F 2:30pm-5:15pm
The course comprises one unit of a four-semester survey (each part of which is free-standing and may be taken separately and independently of each other and in any order, with no prerequisites) of the major achievements of the most important artistic movement of the last sixty years in American film–the independent feature filmmaking movement, in which American narrative filmmakers broke away from the financial, bureaucratic, and (most importantly) imaginative influence of Hollywood values and entertainment story-telling methods to create the most important works in American film–a series of generally low-tech, low-budget, DIY, personal-expression films, made and distributed more or less outside the mainstream exhibition system. This section of the survey focuses on the third generation of American independent feature filmmaking in the period running from approximately 2000 to the present. Since women have made some of the best and most important works in this area, as many female filmmakers as possible are being included. Offered in the fall of even numbered years.
This counts as a course in Genre/Movement.
COM FT 572 A1, Streaming TV
Howell
MW 2:30pm-4:15pm
This course focuses on the variety of ways we watch television beyond the cable subscription and/or broadcast antenna. Starting with VHS distribution and continuing through DVD distribution and eventually streaming and digital on-demand, the course will critically examine if and how these distribution shifts are changing television as we know it. This course will also make connections between these new distribution outlets and practices with antecedents and legacy industrial practices to historicize these shifts. In this class, we will explore ideas of on-demand television and its effects on how television is made and marketed, paying particular attention to narrative structures and assumptions about viewer attention and practices. Additionally, we will look at how taste, class, race, and gender are inflected through which audiences are targeted as cord-cutters or additional subscribers and which audiences and genres are left out of the streaming TV discourse. This course fulfills the additional TV Studies course requirement. Pre-req: FT303.
This counts as a course in Non-Cinematic Media
Language-Specific Affiliated Courses
CAS LF 308 A1, French Through Film and Media
Staff
MWF 9:05am-9:55am
With the goal of better understanding French and Francophone culture and society, students study various media forms that can include film, written and broadcast press, television, podcasts, blogs, and social media.
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS LG 307 A1, Modern Society and Culture
Hoecherl-Alden
TR 9:30am-10:45am
Exploration of life and social issues in the German-speaking world through media, press, and a recent novel and film. Students progress in all language skills and acquire reading and communicative strategies necessary to discuss complex cultural topics. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS LI 313A1, Italian Media and Popular Culture
TR 2:00pm-3:15pm
Students analyze how print, audiovisual, and digital media impact Italian culture and society. Through viewing, discussing, and writing students examine how television, advertising, and folklore represent current social phenomena, and make comparison between Italian and US cultures. Effective Fall 2018 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing- Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS LJ 441 A1, Japanese Through Media
Lee
MWF 2:30pm-3:20pm
Analysis and discussion of authentic print, digital, visual, and social media while developing a high level of Japanese proficiency, and gaining knowledge of current issues and media literacy. Develops critical reading/viewing skills as well as communicative and intercultural proficiency. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS LR 442 A1, Russian Media
Staff
MW 2:30pm-4:15pm
A multimedia exploration of post-Soviet Russian mass media and pop culture. Engages in collaborative and in-depth study of contemporary Russian media sources (including print, music, television, film, and internet) while building and strengthening Russian proficiency. Taught in Russian. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
Counts as an Elective Course
CAS LS 308, Spanish Through Film and new Media
A1: Carrion-Guerrero MWF 8:00am-8:50am
B1: Noonan MWF 11:15am-12:05pm
C1: Cupic TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Advanced study of the Spanish language through the analysis of films and media of the Spanish- speaking world: cinema, the internet, and social media.
Counts as an Elective Course