Film & Media Studies 185 - Ecomedia

This course, an introduction to media studies, examines the relationship between contemporary media forms and the environment with an emphasis on media’s role in the ongoing global environmental crisis. We will analyze the environmental aspects of a range of media objects including science-fiction films, documentary photographs, reality TV shows, video games, and others. But we will also explore the environmental impact of broader media technologies like video streaming platforms and fiber-optic cable networks. While we will sample broadly from critical and scholarly writings about the intersections between media and the environment, our conversations will return frequently to the ways in which critical examinations of media forms can help to elucidate discussions of such issues as climate change, environmentalism, sustainability, and environmental justice.

Limited to 18 students. 9 seats reserved for first years. Spring semester. Professor Guilford.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference will be given to first and second years. Instructor’s permission is required for third- and fourth-year students.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: analyze the formal, cultural, and environmental dimensions of a range of media objects (such as films, television shows, video games, etc.) and broader communications systems (such as those that support broadcast radio or digital communications); read and discuss scholarly writing on the environmental aspects of modern media forms, including scholarship that focuses on the historical, theoretical, political, aesthetic, and scientific dimensions of this subject; engage in focused, substantive conversations about course material during seminar sessions; deliver prepared remarks about weekly readings and screenings in class; develop and compose short critical essays about media and the environment; engage in collaborative projects with other students; participate in field trips to off-campus research sites; and engage in group conversations with class visitors, such as guest lecturers, visiting artists, and members of the Amherst College staff.