This course will introduce you to the development of film theory, exploring the major questions, concepts, and movements in its history. It begins with the notion that cinema plays a profound role in modern culture, and that it continues not only to reflect, but also to shape our world. For this reason, we too must reflect upon and be confident in our methods of interpretation, theorization, and explanation. Spanning writing from the medium’s birth to the present, we will discuss such topics as cinema’s relationship to other arts, to entertainment, to reality, to politics, to nationhood, to fantasy, to philosophy, and to the construction of a range of values, beliefs, and social identities.
