Film Studies Minor

The Film Studies Minor explores cinema and its relationship to broader social, cultural and political issues. The mission of the program is to allow students to explore film as a unique art form and as a medium that influences, and is influenced by, the context in which it is produced. Using an interdisciplinary framework, students within the minor have the opportunity to investigate both the professional aspects of cinematic studies-its evolution and the techniques of the filmmaking process-as well as critical approaches to the field, such as the relationship between cinema and other cultural productions, the international dimensions of the medium, and the power of visual culture in contemporary life. Therefore, the minor introduces students to the major issues in cinema-history, aesthetics, theory, and production-as grounded in the larger cultural and international factors that inform film, other modes of communication, and indeed our everyday lives. The goal is to have students become informed viewers of visual culture, equipped with critical skills that will be useful, not only in media careers, but in other aspects of life as well.