What kinds of courses are required?
6 interdisciplinary courses
• Writing About Film
• A minimum of four other courses
approved by the Film Studies director.
15 credit hours (min.)—See details
For a pdf of the full English curriculum, click here.
__________________________________________________________
Film Studies requirements are described below.
What specific courses are required?
FILM STUDIES
Dr. John G. Nichols, Director
Associate Professor of English
Ratcliffe Hall, Room 226
(757) 594-8896
jnichols @ cnu.edu
The Minor/Certificate Program in Film Studies
As an artistic medium, film explores the complexity of
society through its many cultural uses, serving as a source
of entertainment, a pinnacle of artistic experimentation, an
instrument of social persuasion, and an interdisciplinary
art form. Film courses in this program offer students the
opportunity to participate in critical conversations about
film, enhancing liberal arts learning by emphasizing
strategies for close analysis, historical inquiry, narrativity,
and philosophical thinking.
The interdisciplinary film minor/certificate program
invites students to examine critically the cultural production
and reception of film. Students in the program will analyze
film style, explore the intersection of film and society,
inquire into the making of film, learn strategies for writing
about film, and investigate film’s relations with other
disciplines. (Any of the courses may be taken without
commitment to the entire program.)
Program Objectives:
1) Investigate historical moments of cinematic
production and reception as well as film’s
interdisciplinary relations.
2) Serve as a minor for students who wish to extend
their work in a major to include film.
3) Offer a certificate program for students to
emphasize their concentrated study of film (for a
career in film or graduate studies in film).
Program Requirements:
1) ENGL 356W is required of all students in the
program.
2) A minimum of 15 approved program credits is
required to complete the minor and to obtain
certification.
3) In addition to the courses listed below, certain
internships, independent studies, and special
topics courses focusing on film may also count
toward the minor/certificate as determined by the
Film Studies Director.
4) Students should consult the Film Studies Director
on matters of course selection and advising.
THE CURRICULUM IN FILM STUDIES
The designation “MW” means that at least
one-third of the course reading involves
works by minority and women writers.
COMM 350. Media Criticism (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: COMM 201, 249 or 250.
Spring, alternate years.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to methods
of media criticism that will increase media literacy by
allowing students to analyze and critically process mediated
experiences in everyday life. Students will engage
contemporary examples of film, television, and other
media through a critical lens. The course emphasizes the
infl uence of social, economic, political, and technological
forces on content, strategies/marketing, and critical analysis
employed by scholars and media practitioners.
COMM 395. Special Topics (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: COMM 201, 249, 250.
Fall or Spring.
Topics vary, determined by the special interests and needs
of students and the expertise of faculty. This course’s topics
vary each semester; consequently, only those topics that
involve film, such as documentary, will be credited toward
the film studies minor.
ENGL 271. The Arthurian Legend in Fiction and
Film (3-3-0) WST
Prerequisite: ENGL 123.
This course studies the origins of the Arthurian Legend
in medieval Wales, England, Ireland and France, then
explores the ways in which the legend was transmitted and
transformed through the 20th century. Students will read and
discuss primary and secondary texts to explore issues such
as the relationship between myth, legend, history, fiction,
and folklore; national identity and ideals of kingship; heroes
and heroic identity; as well as medievalism, and the uses
of the past. Students will write a few informal essays, a
research paper, and two exams.
ENGL 320W. Studies in Women and Literature - WI
(3-3-0) (MW) GMP
Prerequisite: ENGL 123, ULLC 223.
Students will analyze the infl uence of gender on literary
texts by and about women. The focus will vary from
semester to semester and may include historical surveys,
major authors, genres and special topics including motherhood;
marriage and the family; sexuality; the nature
of work; religion and spirituality and literary theory on
women and gender. Partially satisfies the Writing Intensive
Requirement.
ENGL 324. Vampires: Representing Power, the Self, and
the Other in World Literature and Film (3-3-0) GMP
Prerequisite: ENGL 208 with a minimum grade of C-.
This course will provide students with the opportunity
to study images of vampires across time and cultures.
It explores the ways in which vampire narratives raise
questions about power and place, whether in relation to
gender roles and social position, invasion and conquest,
or economic conditions. Students will also examine the
relationship between high and popular culture, folklore,
religion and ritual, myth and legend. Students will write
two exams, a proposal, and a research paper.
ENGL 356W. Writing about Film-WI (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: ENGL 123, ULLC 223.
This course offers students the opportunity to hone their
analytic writing skills by investigating the artistic and
cultural construction of films and how writers write about
film. This course is required for the film studies minor.
Partially satisfies the Writing Intensive requirement.
ENGL 380. Film and Literature (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: ENGL 208 with a minimum grade of C-.
This course investigates the myriad ways film and literature
may be understood as conversant, symbiotic, and even
combative mediums. The relationships between film and
literature will be examined in terms of how one is adapted
into the other, how both represent the cultural concerns
of a particular historical moment, and how each depend
upon and enhance certain stylistic strategies of narrative
and non-narrative storytelling. This course counts toward
credit in the film studies minor.
ENGL 381. The Roaring Twenties: Film, Literature,
and Drama of the Jazz Age (3-3-0) WST
Prerequisites: ENGL 208 with a minimum grade of C- or
consent of the instructor.
Flappers, fast cars, mass media, World War I, the avantgarde,
the Harlem Renaissance – this course examines
this decade’s fast-paced intensity in the United States and
Europe and its wide cultural influence.
ENGL 395. Special Topics (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: ENGL 208 with a minimum grade of C-.
Topics vary, determined by the special interests and needs
of students and the expertise of faculty. English majors
may enroll only once for credit. Only topics that involve
film will count toward the film minor.
ENGL 415. Studies in Literary Genre (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: ENGL 308W with a minimum grade of C- or
consent of instructor.
Study of the concept and practice of literary genre through
analysis of works drawn from the American, British, or
world literary traditions Course material, which will vary
based on the interests of the instructor, may include drama,
epic, lyric, novel, romance, satire, tragedy, short story, and
linked/framed narrative. Only the focus on satire will count
toward the film minor.
HIST 325. Cold War Politics and Culture (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: HIST 112 or junior standing or consent of
instructor.
Fall and Spring.
This course examines the Cold War (1945-1991) from the
perspectives of both Soviet and US politics and culture.
Students will consider the era’s major political and military
events and build on the chronological narrative with study
of the Cold War’s cultural and intellectual impact on the
combatants.
HIST 327. History on Film (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: History 111 or junior standing or consent
of instructor.
Spring and Summer.
An analysis in depth of the relationship between film
and historical record. In conjunction with lectures and
class discussions, students will view and analyze classic
popular fictional films as well as political, documentary and
propaganda films. The course will focus on understanding
the sometimes blurred lines between history and fiction
or “docu-drama” written for political or social purposes.
Films examined in the course will vary from term to term
and there are sometimes specific themes in a particular
term. A typical course may include Ingmar’s Bergman’s
The Seventh Seal; Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will;
Inherit the Wind; Spartacus; The Crucible; Gandhi; Nixon;
JFK; The Paths of Glory; The Life of Emile Zola; and
Schindler’s List.
HIST 395. Special Topics (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: HIST 111 or 112 or 121 or 122 or junior
standing or consent of instructor.
Fall, Spring or Summer.
Topics vary, determined by the special interests and needs
of students and the expertise of faculty. A maximum of six
hours in HIST 395/495 may be offered toward completion
of major requirements. Only topics that involve film will
count toward the film minor.
HIST 428. WI:History of Propaganda: A Film Study
Course (3-3-0)
Prerequisite: ENGL 123; ULLC 223; HIST 111 or junior
standing.
Fall, Spring, and Summer.
A historical survey on film and in the other visual arts of
military, political, religious, and social propaganda and
public enlightenment. After a brief survey of propaganda
in earlier times, the course covers the period from the
French Revolution to the present. The emphasis in the
course is on European propaganda, although America and
other areas of the world will be covered as well. Students
will analyze, critique, and examine propaganda in various
formats and also write on films screened in class or viewed
outside of class. Partially satisfies the Writing Intensive
requirement.
HIST 495. Special Topics (3-3-0)
Topics vary, determined by the special interests and needs
of students and the expertise of faculty. A maximum of
six hours in HIST 395 and/or 495 may be offered toward
completion of major requirements.
MLAN 207. History of German Cinema (3-3-0) CXP
This course will examine the cinematic traditions that have
developed in German-speaking countries. Representative
works will be screened and discussed from the Weimar
era, the Third Reich, the German Democratic Republic,
the New German Cinema, and post-reunification Germany.
Lectures and discussions will provide the students with the
historical background necessary to analyze the films in their
cultural context. Lectures/discussions in English. Films will
be shown in the original language with English subtitles.
3 hours of lecture/discussion per week; one required film
screening per week.
MLAN 217. International Film Traditions: Italy
(3-3-0)
This course will offer an historical overview of Italian
cinema from the origins to the present. It will introduce
students to the masterpieces of Italian cinema, with
examples from the silent era, Neorealism, art films, and the
newer trends, and will hone the analytical skills necessary
to read and critically analyze a film. A short film project
may be part of the course requirement (no video skills are
necessary). Lectures/discussions in English. Films will
be shown in the original language with English subtitles.
3 hours of lecture/discussion per week; one required film
screening per week. This course may be counted toward
the Film Studies minor.
MUSC 205. Genre and Genius: Collaboration and
Transcendence in Movie Music (3-3-0) CXP
Fall and Spring.
The course is intended to give students a greater appreciation
of cinema (movies and video)by exploring the concept of
‘genre’ in movie music and discovering how ‘genius’ might
emerge from the collaborative process between director
and composer.
PHIL 326W. Philosophy in the Movies-WI (3-3-0)
Prerequisites: ENGL 123, ULLC 223, and junior
standing.
Offered at least once every other year.
A philosophical and experiential exploration of philosophical
concepts within popular film. Course will focus on different
themes each time it is taught. Themes will include images
of good and evil, images of the future, science, technology,
and humanities’ relationship to the environment; images
of women, love and sex; images of justice, the law, and
the cosmos. Partially satisfies the Writing Intensive
Requirement.
RSTD 326W. Religion in the Movies-WI (3-3-0)
Prerequisites: ENGL 123, ULLC 223 and junior
standing.
Offered at least once every other year.
A theoretical and experiential exploration of religious
concepts within popular films. Concepts considered
will include: Rudolph Otto’s Mysterterium Tremendum
et Fascinans, film as postmodern bard, sacred time
and space, spiritual journey, spiritual mediation, icons,
hierophanic phenomena, transcendence, and Paul
Schrader’s understanding of Transcendental Style in
Film. Theories of religious experience from the following
authors will be integrated into the examination of film as
a medium of religious communication: Rudolph Otto,
Mircea Eliade, Peter Berger, Clifford Geertz, Walter Ong,
Marshall McLuhan, Evelyn Underhill and Paul Schrader.
Partially satisfies the Writing Intensive Requirement.
THEA 361W. Broadway to Hollywood and Back-WI
(3-3-0)
Prerequisite: ENGL 123, ULLC 223.
Alternate Years.
Since the advent of the talkies, plays of all types have been
regularly adapted for presentation as film. As storytelling
mediums, film and theater share many similarities but are,
at heart, vastly different art forms in terms of their texts,
modes of presentation, and audience sensibilities. This
writing intensive (WI) course examines famous plays of
all genres, classics, musicals, dramas, and comedies and
uses their transformations from stage to screen as a basis
to appreciate dramatic literature and to compare both art
forms. The more recent trend of transforming films into
plays is also examined. Partially satisfies the Writing Intensive
Requirement.
Participating Faculty
Dr. Laura Deiulio (Modern and Classical Languages and
Literature), Dr. Eric Duskin (History), Prof. George Hillow
(Theater), Dr. Michaela D.E. Meyer (Communication
Studies), Dr. John Nichols (English), Dr. Kip Redick
(Philosophy and Religious Studies), Dr. Roberta Rosenberg
(English/Women’s and Gender Studies), Dr. Sharon
Rowley (English), Dr. Anthony Santoro (History), Dr.
Roberta Tabanelli (Modern and Classical Languages and
Literature), Dr. George Teschner (Philosophy and Religious
Studies), Dr. Joseph White (Music).