Film & Media Studies

This course considers how contemporary world cinema imagines the non-human, via a focus on those uncanny figures that are disturbingly close to the human; cyborgs, vampires, people who turn into animals, and aliens who pretend to be humans. It introduces some of the critical terrain of the posthuman, and connects it to cinematic questions of identity, genre, and style. It addresses topics such as feminism and queer theory, globalization and biopolitics, technology and nature, while analyzing a range of sci-fi and horror cinema, as well as speculative and fantastical art films. 

This course examines documentary photography at home and abroad as a visual style, and the creative laws of documentary photography.

This course examines current events and the way they are covered in a variety of media outlets around the world, looking at framing, bias, stereotypes, context, story structure, and placement. Through lectures, discussions, a field trip, and class presentations, students analyze why news is reported as it is around the world and in the process become discerning media consumers better able to filter the noise and make decisions for themselves. The first half of the course is spent with lectures and discussions that examine the way news is covered around the world and why variations exist. The final half is devoted to student presentations on current event coverage. The presentations employ a "town hall" approach in which groups of students lead discussions on the issues and their coverage to classroom peers, being graded not just on content but audience engagement and participation. Topics of Discussion: Fake News, The Four Theories of the Press; News Values; News and Feature Story Structure; Media Effects and Communication Theory; Journalists and Media Organizations; Media Gatekeepers; Sources; Culture, Bias and Stereotypes; Language, Framing and Context; Legal Issues; Power and Economic Issues. Presentation Topics: Ongoing and breaking stories in the news.

This course introduces the background of China’s political institution and culture and provides overview of the relationship between China’s media and politics in a global context. It provides a broad perspective of China’s political communication and a familiarity with China’s media system and its political consequences. Four general topics are explored: China's media system; China's international communication system; Chinese nationalism in international conflicts; China's public diplomacy and international relations. 

This course is a study of the history of Israel as seen through films. The course examines various angles of the socio-political reality displayed in both fiction and documentary films. From the early twentieth century in Palestine and onwards in Israel, mainly through Israeli cinema, a flourishing industry nowadays, as well as through foreign cinema, the course covers the main events that shaped and continue to shape the reality of this young state: the historical events that led to its foundation, the wars which drew its borders, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its multi-cultural identity.

This course provides an in-depth analysis of films while examining contemporary film aesthetics, and provides a study of the ideological, social, and cultural connotations of films. This course involves the analysis of the narrative viewpoint and narrative structure of films. Through representative directors, such as Wong Kar-wai, Hitchcock, Kubrick, etc., the course analyzes the psychological mechanism of film viewing, strategy of suspense, and thinking on modernity. In addition, representative film works are used to discuss various real-life issues with philosophical significance. New developments and characteristics of contemporary film aesthetics are also explored.