Spring Courses 2007 with Bernard Roddy

Humanities 122: Contemporary Culture and the Arts

Section 004 MW 12:30pm - 1:45 DP and Section 004 MW 2:00pm - 3:15 DP

This course is an introduction to visual culture. Students will learn about the way a wide variety of media and imagery work in American society. For example, we will consider film and video, photography and fine art, but also advertising and popular culture. We will take a broad, theoretical look at the way representation works. The course puts emphases on the representation of women and men, race and sexuality, and provides an introductory history of visual culture and mass media. We will study what is called "the gaze" in cinema, theories of the political impact of technology in a consumer society, fine art in a postmodern culture, as well as how the artifacts of other cultures are displayed in Western museums. Early in the course students are introduced to several very important theories of meaning and representation. You will then give your interpretation of various samples of video, film, and print images. The course requires two pieces of writing, an excursion report and a final paper, as well as a midterm and a final exam. In addition, during the first half of the course there are some short quizzes on the readings.

Humanities 160: Introduction to Film

Section 050 W 6:00pm - 10:00pm DP

This is an introduction to film history. Students will study the development of the cinema as an art form, focusing on certain central figures, films, and developments. The course also offers an introduction to the techniques of filmmaking, how narrative films work. Some of the questions we will ask are: How did films become entertaining vehicles for story-telling? What are some of the aesthetic achievements of the silent era? What was the impact of the introduction of color and sound? We will look at the work of the American silent film great, D.W. Griffith, German Expressionism, the Soviet development of "montage," and the French New Wave. When you have completed the course, you'll have a good appreciation of the history of this young art form and be in a better position to evaluate the films you see. The course requires a short writing assignment and a bit of research. Students will spend a good part of each meeting watching an important film. But it won't always be entertaining. Sometimes appreciation requires careful attention and critical thinking, and that's what we'll be learning in this course.

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