A study of the origin and development of film as an art form, including the summation of outstanding films produced in France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, India, and Japan. Discussions of documentary and short subject contributions toward this development are included. Students will create media, evaluate and analyze the uses of media, and familiarize themselves with materials such as transparencies, slides, film, and video. This is a general course which will help students to understand better the complex nature of the media through which they communicate. The course will deal with the theories and practices of mass communications, the print and electronic media, and the roles of media as informers, entertainers, and persuaders.
Students read and discuss leading writers of America to the Civil War.
Included are works of the Puritans, Jefferson, Franklin, Cooper, Emerson, Melville, and Whitman. Critical and historical analysis is included. The period covered by this course corresponds to the period covered by HIST201, American Life to 1865. American Literature II 3 cr. Critical and historical analysis is included.