The minor in film is interdisciplinary and is not administered through a specific academic department. Its faculty is drawn from disciplines throughout the humanities, the arts and the social sciences. The minor has been designed to reflect the recent explosion of scholarly interest in film, as well as the diverse cultural responses to the medium. While the aesthetic appreciation of the medium is the minor’s point of departure, the student can expect to take courses emphasizing film as a document of social history or as a research tool for examining differences in culture.

Students in film will acquire skills for its formal and semiotic analysis, as well as an appreciation for its incredibly rich historical development. Minors will also come to see cinema as a significant historical force in its own right. Students can expect to take courses that range from historical surveys to surveys of particular film genres, from courses that focus on a specific director to courses in cinematic adaptation of literary genres.

The minor in film is appropriate for anyone wishing to gain an in-depth appreciation of a medium that pervades the modern psyche and popular imagination. It is particularly useful to those students whose major interests are in film or video production, media studies, English or foreign literatures, theatre, music and history. Directed readings that treat specific directors, national cinemas, cinematic genres or special projects can be arranged.

Students who initiate course work in their sophomore year can complete the minor by graduation. Students interested in the minor should contact one of the faculty listed above.