Film & Media Studies 369 - Cinematic Worlds

(Offered as ENGL 369 and FAMS 369) This course examines a variety of approaches to “world-making” in
cinema and scholarly debates about the aesthetic and political dimensions of cinematic worlds. We will begin
by exploring the imaginary worlds created within popular film genres such as fantasy, science fiction, and
animation. With the aid of readings from film and media studies, literary theory, cultural studies, and other
scholarly fields, we will consider how such imaginary worlds relate to—and diverge from—the political,
ideological, and economic systems that organize our actual world. Our conversation will then expand to
engage other areas of film practice such as art cinema, documentary, and experimental film, as well as readings
about world-making from different scholarly fields such as ecocriticism, Black studies, and queer theory. We
will consider whether we—as worldly inhabitants—should be working to preserve, reconstruct, or dismantle
the world, and how cinema may enable or hinder such projects.

Limited to 20 students. Fall semester. Professor Guilford.

How to handle overenrollment: In the event of over-enrollment, priority will be given to FAMS majors.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Emphasis on written work, readings, oral presentations, group work, and audio-visual analysis.