Introduction to Film Studies
Critical and historical approaches to world cinema. Close analysis of selected films in relation to their cultural contexts.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Film History
History of cinema as a medium, industry and art form from its origins, including Hollywood cinema and major international movements.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 1F94.
Film Research Methods
Introduction to research and writing in the areas of film criticism, film history and film theory.
Lectures, lab, seminar, 5 hours per week.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 1F94.
Corequisite(s): FILM 2F90.
Popular Culture Theory and Research Methods
(also offered as COMM 2P20 and PCUL 2P20)
Theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of various forms of popular culture. Critical and research skills specific to studies in popular culture.
Lectures, seminar, lab, 4 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined), COMM and PCUL majors until date specified in Registration guide.
Prerequisite(s): one of FILM 1F94, CANA 1F91, COMM 1F90, PCUL 1F92 or permission of the instructor.
Canadian Popular Culture
(also offered as COMM 2P21 and PCUL 2P21)
Survey of the media in Canada. Studies in the popular arts, with special reference to the ways that institutions (CBC, NFB) and selected artists identify and express a Canadian cultural imagination.
Lectures, seminar, lab, 4 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined), COMM and PCUL majors until date specified in Registration guide.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2P20 or permission of the instructor.
Documentary Film
(also offered as COMM 2P54 and SOCI 2P54)
History, theory, aesthetics and cultural implications of documentary film and other visual media.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): one of FILM 1F94, COMM 1F90, SOCI 1F90 or permission of the instructor.
Canadian Cinema
(also offered as COMM 2P56 and PCUL 2P56)
Critical and historical study of Canadian cinema.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): one of FILM 1F94, COMM 1F90, PCUL 1F92 or permission of the instructor.
Early Film Theory
Major early film theories including realism, formalism, and surrealism. Application of the theories to selected films.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 1F94 or permission of the Department.
Popular Cinema
(also offered as COMM 2P94 and PCUL 2P94)
Popular cinema as art and institution emphasizing film genres and cultural contexts.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 1F94 or PCUL 1F92.
Basic Production: Video
(also offered as COMM 3F28)
Introduction to the theory and practice of video techniques: critique of videos and production work.
Workshops, seminar, 3 hours per week; additional production time as required.
Restriction: permission of the Department.
Prerequisite(s): two FILM credits.
Note: enrolment limited to 15 students. Materials fee required.
Audience Studies
(also offered as COMM 3P18 and PCUL 3P18)
Theoretical and methodological approaches to the understanding of audiences for media and cultural products, including print, sound, film, broadcasting, and digital media.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite(s): one of FILM 2P10, 2P20, COMM 2P17.
Television Studies
(also offered as COMM 3P20 and PCUL 3P20)
Historical, theoretical and critical approaches to television.
Lectures, seminar, lab, 4 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined), COMM, PCUL and STAC majors with a minimum of 9.0 overall credits.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2F90, 2P20 or permission of the instructor.
Canadian Television
(also offered as COMM 3P21 and PCUL 3P21)
Historical, theoretical and critical approaches to Canadian television.
Lectures, seminar, lab, 4 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined), COMM, PCUL and STAC majors with a minimum of 9.0 overall credits.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 3P20 or permission of the instructor.
Issues in Documentary Film
(also offered as COMM 3P54 and SOCI 3P54)
Advanced studies in selected aspects of documentary film and other visual media.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2P54.
Issues in Canadian Cinema
(also offered as COMM 3P56)
Advanced studies in selected aspects of Canadian cinema.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2P56.
Contemporary Film Theory
Current film theories including semiotics, psychoanalysis and postmodernism. Application of the theories to selected films.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2P91.
Authorship in the Cinema
Issues of personal and collaborative creativity in film through the study of the style, themes and development of selected film makers.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2F90 or permission of the instructor.
Film Genre
(also offered as COMM 3P94 and PCUL 3P94)
Genre theory and its application to popular film.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2F90, 2P20 and 2P21 or permission of the instructor.
National Cinema
Study of selected national cinemas emphasizing their relationship to national cultural traditions.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2F90 or permission of the instructor.
Issues in Popular Culture
(also offered as COMM 3P96 and PCUL 3P96)
Specialized studies in popular culture and its role in specific social, historical or theoretical contexts.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2F90 or FILM 2P20 and 2P21.
Gender, Race and Class in Cinema to the 1960s
(also offered as COMM 3P97, PCUL 3P97 and WISE 3P97)
Representation of gender, sexuality, race and class, and implications of spectatorship and ideology.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): one of FILM 2F90, FILM 2P20 and 2P21, WISE 2P91 or permission of the instructor.
Gender, Race and Class in Contemporary Cinema
(also offered as COMM 3P98, PCUL 3P98 and WISE 3P98)
Representation of gender, sexuality, race and class via ideology, feminism, queer theory and spectatorship in film and video texts since the 1960s.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): one of FILM 2F90, FILM 2P20 and 2P21, WISE 2P91 or permission of the instructor.
Television Genres
(also offered as COMM 3Q94 and PCUL 3Q94)
Genre theory and its application to popular television.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week; plus weekly lab.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2F90, FILM 2P20 and 2P21 or permission of the instructor.
Special Topics in Film Studies
Lectures, lab, seminar, 4 hours per week.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 2F90 and 2P91 or permission of the instructor.
Directed Reading
Directed individual or group reading in an area of Film Studies.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined) majors with a minimum of 14.0 overall credits, a minimum 80 percent major average, approval to year 4 (honours) and permission of the Department.
Note: students are responsible for arranging their course with a faculty member, in consultation with the Academic Adviser and must submit a written proposal before registration. The reading may not be on the topic of the student's FILM 4F99 thesis.
Honours Thesis
Thesis on a topic of mutual interest to the student and the instructor, with a critical, historical or contemporary focus.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined) majors with a minimum of 14.0 overall credits, a minimum 80 percent major average, approval to year 4 (honours) and permission of the Department.
Prerequisite(s): FILM 4P30 and 4P31(may be taken concurrently).
Note: to register in the Honours thesis, the student must consult the Undergraduate Program Adviser about topics, department regulations and the selection of an adviser.
Theories of Mass Culture
(also offered as COMM 4P30 and PCUL 4P30)
Studies in cultural theory and its application to mass media texts, with special reference to the work of the Frankfurt School, French Structuralism and British Cultural Studies.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined), COMM and PCUL majors with approval to year 4 (honours) or permission of the instructor.
Theories of the Visible
(also offered as COMM 4P31 and PCUL 4P31)
Central 20th-century developments in the theories of visibility and their relevance to the field of media studies.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined) and PCUL majors until date specified in Registration guide. After that date open to COMM majors. Students must have approval to year 4 (honours) or permission of the instructor.
Taste and Cultural Politics
(also offered as COMM 4P34 and PCUL 4P34)
Application of cultural theories to the analysis of taste, distinction, class, cultural standards and moral panics, transgression and trash culture.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined), COMM and PCUL majors with approval to year 4 (honours) or permission of the instructor.
Special Topics in Film Studies
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
2010-2011: British Popular Culture
(also offered as COMM 4V52 and PCUL 4V52)
Mass media in Britain emphasizing issues of production, regulation and reception. Popular texts in their social and political contexts.
Lectures, seminar, lab, 4 hours per week.
Restriction: open to COMM, PCUL and FILM (single and combined) majors with approval to year 4 (honours) or permission of the instructor.
Issues in Film History
Specialized studies in Film History addressing issues such as aesthetics, ideological and theoretical concerns across a range of periods and cultures.
2010-2011: Conventions of Film Realism
(also offered as COMM 4V61 and PCUL 4V61)
How representation and perception of reality have evolved with technology and aesthetics, from the Lumières to reality television.
Lectures, lab, seminar, 4 hours per week.
Restriction: open to FILM (single or combined), COMM and PCUL majors with approval to year 4 (honours) or permission of the instructor.
Issues in International Cinema
Specialized studies of the historical and social contexts influencing trends and developments in international cinema.