Mar 29, 2024  
2016-2017 
    
2016-2017 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

FMS 421 - Seminar in Film and Media Studies: After Birth of a Nation


Instructor
Lerner

This seminar will take the occasion of the 100th anniversary of D. W. Griffith’s controversial film The Birth of a Nation (1915) as an invitation to conduct a close investigation of the original film and its impact on film history and U.S. culture along with a study of this film and the history and representation of racial identities in U.S. media. The historical scope of the seminar will reach back to the nineteenth century and up to the present, with attention given to Oscar Micheaux’s cinematic response (Within Our Gates) and the entire twentieth century history of what have been called “race movies.” Projects will include both scholarly writing along with production exercises involving editing, remixing, and re-composing. Weekly screenings expected outside of class.

NOTE: This seminar will fulfill the 400-level capstone requirement for the FMS minor in 2015-16.

Prerequisites & Notes
FMS 220. (Fall)