left-arrowleft-arrowright-arrowleft-arrowAsset 9
Logo
'

Claremont McKenna College

KRNT 130 CM-01: Korean Cinema & Culture

  • Instructor: Aitel, Fazia
    • Tuesday/Thursday; 11:00-12:15 p.m.
    • Room 12, Roberts North
    • Elective

This course examines Korean history, politics, culture, and society through analysis of their representation in contemporary Korean cinema. This course will follow the history of Korea chronologically from Yi Dynasty to the present focusing on the topics such as Confucianism, Colonial period, nationalism, Korean War, national division, military government, democratic movements, and urbanization. The focus of the class will be equally distributed between the films themselves and the historical time and people captured on these films. Knowledge of Korean is not required.

LIT 130 CM-01: Introduction to Film

  • Instructor: Staff
    • Monday; 2:45-5:30 p.m.
    • Room 164, The Kravis Center
    • Introduction to Critical Studies

From its inception, cinema has often been conceptualized as having a “language” of its own. This course examines that metaphor from aesthetic, cultural, social, and historical perspectives. We will begin with a close analysis of a contemporary popular film, in an effort to “defamiliarize” typical conventions of cinematic expression, and then proceed through a study of multiple movements and genres in the history of film, from German Expressionism to the French New Wave, from Hollywood to documentary to avant-grade and independent filmmaking. Overall, the course is intended to provide students with a broad introduction to film analysis and to the field of Film Studies.

LIT 132 CM-01: Film History II

  • Instructor: Morrison, James E.
    • Tuesday/Thursday; 2:45-4:00 p.m.
    • Room 15, Roberts North
    • Media History

This course surveys the history of cinema as art and mass medium, from 1965 to the present. Topics such as the rise of independent filmmaking in America, the conglomeration of the studios, and European resistance to Hollywood’s domination on the world market are considered in social, cultural, and aesthetic terms.

LIT 134C CM-01: Spy Films

  • Instructor: von Hallberg, Robert
    • Tuesday/Thursday; 4:15-5:30 p.m.
    • Room 103, Roberts North
    • Media History

A seminar designed to explore the aesthetic achievement and social impact of film as an art form. Subjects for study include such topics as specific film genres, the work of individual film-makers, and recurring themes in film. Each year the seminar concentrates on a different area – for example, “Film and Politics,” “The Director as Author,” or “Violence and the Hero in American Films.” Repeatable for differing topics. The topic for spring 2024 is “Spy Films”. This course focuses on spy-thrillers. The films are entertainments, but they deal directly with political subjects; they imagine ways of being a patriot, an effective agent, a reliable civil servant, and of pursuing the interests of a state beyond lawful, acknowledged procedures. We will emphasize interpretations that engage these concerns, and look to some essays by political philosophers to guide our analyses.

LIT 136 CM-01: American Film Genres- The Hollywood Western

  • Instructor: Warner, Nicholas O.
    • Monday/Wednesday; 2:45-4:00 p.m.
    • Room 01, Bauer Center
    • Media Theory

Mainstream genres can be seen as expressions of American culture’s popular mythology. This course will concentrate on selected genres to examine the social values, issues, and tensions that underlie these narratives and their characteristic ways of resolving fundamental societal conflicts. The genre for spring 2025 will be, “The Hollywood Western” (Professor Warner) and “Horror” (Professor Morrison) This course focuses on that most distinctively American of all film genres, the Western. We will explore such themes as wilderness vs. civilization; race relations; gender roles; and notions of American national identity. Students will engage in close study of about 10-12 films, and will read background materials in film criticism, American history, and the culture of the American west. Our main goal will be to achieve a deeper understanding of the Hollywood Western in and of itself and as a significant historical and political phenomenon. In addition, the course seeks to enhance students’ writing skills and to give students more expertise in viewing, understanding, and writing about the great art form of cinema. Written work consists of essays of varying length, a midterm, and take-home final project.

LIT 163 AF-01: North African Literature/Culture

  • Instructor: Aitel, Fazia
    • Monday/Wednesday; 1:15-2:30 p.m.
    • Room 166, The Kravis Center
    • Elective

This course is an introduction to North African Studies which offers an overview of North African literature and culture, through a selection of the works of some of the most important North African authors from diverse ethnic backgrounds (Arab, Berber, French and Jewish). In addition, we will consider a selection of films, photographs, and other visual culture which will provide further insights into the complex social political and religious fabric of each country and the region as a whole. And, of course, we will consider music, which, along with poetry, is a cultural practice and form which is oral and an essential aspect of the everyday life in North Africa.