Film & Media Studies

This course discusses memory and human rights from the perspective of Chilean literary and cultural production of the dictatorial and post-dictatorial period. It reviews some of the most important works published and performed within the last four decades. Selections include three main literary genres each week: the novel, poetry, and theater/film. The discussion of these materials also includes theoretical studies about the period in question and the importance and difficulties of human rights and memory as social practices.

This course examines why we watch horror, and how are we reflected in it. It explores national cinemas of the Asian region, including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and more, inquiring why humans create and consume films with disturbing or violent content, and how that content can help us process issues connected to our nations, cultures, and identities. Each film will be discussed in its cultural, historical, and political context, and secondary readings will allow students to approach the films through various lenses such as psychology, gender theory, media theory, and more.

This course examines the use of social media and considers in particular the influence of new media corporations such as Facebook, as well as platforms like Twitter, SnapChat, Tinder and YouTube. It explores our cultural practices and social rituals in relation to these peer-to-peer, one-to-many media technologies, and examines this revolution in the media landscape.

This course is a theoretical and analytical introduction to the narratives, styles, and genres of audiovisual media such as film, television, and animation. These audiovisual media are diverse variants of what historically have been termed moving images, defined by media philosopher Noël Carroll as “a mode of communication and expression that can be implemented cinematically, videographically, digitally, and/or in ways which we still have to conceive.” As an introductory course in media and communication studies, this course also offers insight and introductory exercise in scholarly reading, scholarly thinking, and academic writing.