Welcome to the Film Criticism Minor! Our program offers students training in cineliteracy—the ability to analyze, understand, and appreciate the moving image—and familiarizes them with formalist, historical, political, socio-cultural, and other critical approaches to film. Students in the minor develop their skills through screenings and written analyses; they learn to become critically literate and socially conscious in their approach to film, and more adept at communicating sophisticated responses to the medium.

Learning Outcomes

Students in the Film Criticism Minor will develop the following:

• Enhanced level of cineliteracy. Students will be able to "read" the various language systems of film (cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, acting, sound, genre, and more.)
• Critical awareness of film content. Students will be able to explain the role of film in sustaining or critiquing ideologies, myths, cultural values, and prejudices.
• Knowledge of the cultural diversity of film. Students will appreciate the multicultural dimensions of filmmaking as it occurs outside of Hollywood: national film schools and feminist and postcolonial currents.
• Understanding of the social and historical significance of cinema as an institution. Students will understand the role of cinema in the emergence of the "society of the image" and celebrity culture, and they will learn about changing patterns of film production, reception, and viewing.

Courses

Like most minors at WCU, the Film Criticism Minor requires students to take six courses, or 18 credits, in order to complete the program. One core course—FLM 200—is required; the other five courses are electives chosen from the list below. Please also note that FLM 200 counts as an approved General Education Arts Distributive course.

Required Courses

• FLM 200: Introduction to Film

A survey of the principal elements of film, including photography, editing, sound, acting, and narrative. Writing Emphasis.

Elective Courses

• FLM 201: American Film

The function of cinema in contemporary society as a socio-cultural, economic and political object, as seen through critical analysis of American films. Writing Emphasis.

• FLM 202: American Themes

An introduction to contemporary critical and theoretical principles for interpreting American films which concentrates on a single theme. This course is variable topics and may be taken again for credit. Writing Emphasis.

• FLM/ENG/CLS 400: Research Seminar

A seminar which offers students practice in applying contemporary critical and theoretical principles to films in an advanced context. PREREQ: FLM 200 or permission of the instructor. Writing Emphasis. This course is variable topics and may be taken again for credit.

• CLS 304: Women and Film

An examination of the role of women in contemporary world cinema and the feminist film.

• CLS 365: African-American Film

This course will study the history, form, and content of African-American film. The films chosen are from various genres and cover older and contemporary films.

• CLS 369: Literature and Film

The interrelationship between selected works of world fiction and their film adaptations. Writing Emphasis.

• CLS/FLM/ENG 400: Research Seminar

Topics such as Homer and the modern Western race and legal narrative, interrelations of African and African-American literature, sexual politics in modern drama, and visual culture in Third World film are offered. Fulfills a 400-level research seminar requirement for English B.A. and B.S.Ed. majors. This course may be taken again for credit.

• COM 217: Introduction to Video Production and Editing

Planning and producing the nondramatic television production.

• COM 317: Advanced Video Production

Planning the program. Preparing the shooting script. Practice in rehearsing with actors and cameras. PREREQ: COM 217, 219, 224; and SPK 208.

• EFR 350/FRE 350: French Civilization on Film*

A study of French history and culture as reflected in French and French-speaking cinema. Culture Cluster.

• EGE 404/GER 404: German Artists as Social Conscience: Postwar German Literature and Film*

An examination of the political and social issues of contemporary Germany through an analysis of literary and cinematic texts. Discussion topics include the Holocaust, Nazism, the Second World War, the Economic Miracle, the Cold War, terrorism, the feminist and peace movements, atomic warfare, and German reunification and its aftermath. No knowledge of German required. Culture Cluster.

• EGE 405/GER 405: A Survey of German Film*

An analysis of German films from Expressionism to the present. We shall examine the films in terms of their political and social context and as works of art. Directors include Fritz Lang, Murnau, Wiene, Fassbinder, Herzog, Schlondorff, von Trotta, and Wenders. No knowledge of German required. Culture Cluster. Writing Emphasis.

• EGE 409/GER 413: Impact of the Holocaust on Literature and Film*

This course studies the causes and effects of the Holocaust through literary, philosophical, and cinematic works of post-war Europe and America. No knowledge of German required. Culture Cluster.

• EIT 360/ITA 360: Italy on Film*

A history of Italian cinema, as seen through representative works of each period. Culture Cluster.

• ERU 363: Russian and Soviet Film and Literature*

A comparative approach to selected 20th century Soviet works of fiction, poetry, drama, and film.

• ESP 305: Spanish Cinema: Nation and Gender*

This course will investigate the ways in which films participate in and create debates about the relationship between national identification and gender. No knowledge of Spanish is required. Culture Cluster.

• ESP 309/SPA 313: Latin America on Film*

This course screens several films about Latin America, and it addresses critical issues (history, political, economic, religion, ethnic diversity, and gender and class discrimination) necessary to understand Latin American culture. Culture Cluster.

• SPA 415: Cinema of Spain

Fictionalized perspectives of 20th and 21st century social realities since the Spanish Civil War. Discussion topics include social criticism, the psychology of adolescence, immigration, and historical memory. PREREQ: SPA 330 or 331 or permission of instructor.

• HIS 376: American History at the Movies

Examines the relationship between academic scholarship and the presentation of American history in film.

• PHI 280: Philosophy and Film

This course helps students understand and discuss philosophy, film, and how the two disciplines intersect. Students’ critical-thinking skills will improve as they use film theory and terminology to decipher key philosophical texts, and vice versa.

• WRH 305: Images of School in Film

This course reflects on schooling as a shared experience, helping students develop a stronger sense of what functions schools should be expected to perform in society. Using theoretical readings and films, students will develop an intellectual framework for examining and complicating film depictions of school. Writing Emphasis.

* Course prefixes that begin with an "E" designate English-language courses taught in WCU’s Languages & Cultures Department. Students who wish to take a given course in the original language (i.e., in French, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish) must have completed coursework in that language through the 202 level. The course prefix for the original-language version of each class is listed next to its English counterpart.