Art 79500 - Topics in the History of the Motion Picture: Aesthetics of Film. GC, T, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Room TBA, 3 credits, Professor William Boddy {Cross-Listed with Theatre 71400 - Aesthetics of Film}

This course offers an introduction to the study of film aesthetics through the close analysis of films representing a wide range of directors, historical periods, stylistic schools, and national cinemas.

Among the topics explored in the course are narrative and nonnarrative formal systems, the filmmaker's use of mise en scene, editing, and sound, and the film text's relation to history and ideology. Students will also be introduced to some of the major theories and methods of film analysis and criticism.

The course requires no previous experience in film studies, and students from a variety of academic backgrounds are welcome. Written reports, seminar presentation, and a research paper are required from students.

Ascp 81500 - Themes in American Culture: The American Movie Musical. GC, M, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Room TBA, 3 credits, Professors George F. Custen and Ella Shohat {Cross-Listed with Theatre 81500 - Seminar in Film Studies: The American Movie Musical}

The American Movie Musical will attempt to bridge the texts of the Broadway musical, popular music, and the Hollywood movie musical, but will also investigate other, less apparent sources of meaning production and reception in the genre.

While examining the connections between these related -- but different -- creative communities of Broadway, Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood, we will investigate how other cultural contexts--some mediated, some not--shaped the syntax and the semantic fields of the movie musical, and how, in turn, both Hollywood and Broadway shaped popular public culture in a pre-electronic, pre-rock world. We will touch briefly upon the role of the musical in the post-studio era.

Key issues discussed shall include: the ideological nature of American popular entertainment, and its mediation of such issues as race, sexuality, and ethnicity; musicals as "utopian" utterances in a social landscape of muted or exaggerated realism; the "project" of the musical in its construction of the notion of community; the use of the musical to "sell" and commodify art; the role of the musical as mediator between the battles of high and low art; the use of the musical by "subcultures" and "minority" groups (here, gay and lesbian, and African-American); and, the musical as a creator of mythologies about art and artists in the subgenre of the musical biography. In addition, American models will be compared with those of other countries and cultures (e.g., Brazil, Egypt).

Music 86300 - Seminar in Music History: Film Music. GC, W, 6:30-10:00 p.m., 3 credits, Professor Royal Brown {Cross-Listed with Theatre 81500 - Seminar in Film Studies: Film Music}

The course will examine the entire phenomenon of film music and the technical, artistic, aesthetic, psychological, and political problems it poses. As an ongoing process, we will track the evolution of film music and how its metamorphoses run parallel to and diverge from those in the art and commerce of the cinema.

For the "classical" film score, we will examine essential differences between film and concert music. Scores will be studied in the light of how the composer has solved both the musical and dramatic problems at hand, and we will discuss the ways in which varying musical styles, from romantic to avant-garde, have been deployed in the cinematic context. In many instances, the musical score opens doors onto deeper readings of the filmic text, and we will explore some of the ways in which this occurs.

The movement of film music into non-classical areas, in particular pop and jazz, will also be examined, as will the recent shift towards electronics (synthesizers, sampling, etc.) and new tendencies in film/music interactions, such as the breakdown of the distinction between source (diegetic) and nondiegetic music.

Numerous examples from films and scores will be presented in class. Video copies of complete films, including documentaries on composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Toru Takemitsu, and Georges Delerue, will be available for viewing in the library. When possible, film composers such as Howard Shore will be invited to come to the class and talk about their work. I am also working on a way of making copies of one entire film score available to students taking the course.