Willamette University

Film Studies

Program Information

The film studies program is designed:

  • to encourage a broadly interdisciplinary and critical assessment of the roles that film and the visual media play in our lives,
  • to introduce students to the development of filmic traditions,
  • to provide them with the critical tools necessary to make informed judgments about the visual representations they encounter,
  • to offer a practical introduction to the construction of filmic works, and
  • to broaden thinking about film and media studies beyond the context provided by the Hollywood model.

Since the study of film and media has rooted itself independently in so many areas, the methodologies it employs also vary widely. Accordingly, film study at Willamette is designed to connect students with multiple critical and methodological approaches and to encourage theoretical inquiry as well as creative engagement with the practical problems of visual representation.

The Film Studies major is well-suited to contribute to the critical social engagement that the liberal arts seek to foster as well as to prepare students for career opportunities or advanced study in filmmaking, non-print journalism, and media criticism.

Requirements for the Film Studies Major (10 Credits)

10 credits, no more than three of which may be taken in a single department. This limit does not apply to the senior experience.

A basic history of cinema

  • FILM 210 (W) History of Cinema: The Rise of Classical Narrative

One course in media and society

  • RHET 232 (AR) Persuasion, Propaganda, and the Mass Media
  • RHET 320 Mass Media and Society

One introductory course that involves students in the process of making film

  • ARTS 216 (CA) Video Art I
  • ENGL 135 (CA; W) Creative Writing (Screenwriting only)
  • RHET 125 (CA) Creating Visual Rhetoric

Two courses engaging issues of film theory

Senior Project

A senior project, approved by the Film Studies faculty, which might be a creative or critical project. It might be satisfied by:

  • FILM 499 Senior Project, or
  • With permission by taking FILM 449 Studies in Cinema and Nationalism (and writing a senior paper), or
  • With the cooperation of faculty in another discipline and the approval of Film Studies faculty, through the successful completion of a project or seminar approved for the purpose and worth at least one credit in another department such as ARTH 496, ENGL 490, HUM 497, THTR 499 or the like. A single paper will not normally be approved as satisfying two different senior requirements and a proposal for a senior project in connection with a course in another discipline will require notification to and approval by both faculties.

Four additional credits

Including at least one credit from each of the following three groups. No class may be counted twice.

Film art and society

  • ANTH 335 Visual Anthropology
  • ENGL 334 Film Genre
  • ENGL 336 (AR) Visible Evidence: The History and Theory of Documentary Film
  • FILM 449 Studies in Cinema and Nationalism
  • IDS 327 (AR, W) the American Story and the Legacy of Vietnam
  • RHET 320 Mass Media and Society
  • FILM 335 Spectacular '68

Film Production

The following with permission, if elements of film work can also be included for the petitioning student:

National and Transnational Film

Courses currently in the curriculum that should contribute to a Film Studies Major

Requirements for the Film Studies Minor (5 Credits)

Four credits from the following: (3)

  • ARTS 216 Video Art I (1)
  • ENGL 336 Visible Evidence: The History and Theory of Documentary Film (1)
  • ENGL 355 Feminist Criticism (with approved film topic) (1)
  • ENGL 390 Reading and Conference (with approved film topic) (1)
  • ENGL 490 Independent Study (with approved film topic) (1)
  • FREN 438 French Literature and Cinema (1)
  • JAPN 340 The Japanese Cinema (1)
  • SPAN 380 Latin American Cinema (1)
  • FREN 490 GERM 490 JAPN 490 RUSS 490 or SPAN 490 Reading and Conference (with approved film topic) (1)
  • HUM 497 (W) Humanities Senior Seminar (with approved film topic) (1)