Film Studies: Cinema as Medium and Institution

DESCRIPTION:
Film as a modern cultural form. Sociological analysis of the history, trends and conditions of cinema developments since its beginnings. Exercises in film interpretation. The role of film as industry and means for political and social transformation. Theories of film: Kracauer, Bazin, Metz, Tarkovsky.

RATIONALE: 
The area of film studies is currently a fully recognized subject in the sociology curriculum. Film has emerged as an autonomous terrain for sociological analysis operating at three levels: first, through an understanding of how film functions as an art form; second, through a knowledge of its complex cultural history and institutional character; and third, through an interpretation of its multilayered “language”. This particular aspect renders the course highly relevant to students in English and art history. To this end, this advanced course in film studies aims at making students familiar with a broad spectrum of the areas that one needs to master in order to evaluate film and be able to extract valuable sociological insights as to how social consciousness is shaped by this powerful, magical and pervasive medium.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: 
As a result of taking this course, the student should be able to:
1.Identify film as a modern art form, in the social, political and cultural contexts within which it evolved.
2.Demonstrate understanding of the complex parameters of film as a medium of mise-en-scène and editing, of film as an art, and of film’s “language”.
3.Examine with sociological insight the most important phases of film history as these were shaped by profound social changes in the modern world.
4.Identify and discuss the main arguments from the most sophisticated theories of film as elaborated by eminent directors and film theorists.
5.Identify, through careful interpretation, the latent symbolic processes that are at work in film.

METHOD OFTEACHING AND LEARNING:
In congruence with the teaching and learning strategy of the 
2 college, the following tools are used:
- Classes consist of lectures, discussions of selected issues, showing of video documentaries and in-class illustrations of various issues.
- Office hours: students are encouraged to make full use of the office hours of their lecturer, where they can address issues and ask questions pertinent to the course material.
- Use of a blackboard site, where instructors post lecture notes, assignment instructions, timely announcements, as well as additional resources.