Film Studies
School for Studies in
Art and Culture:
Film Studies
St. Patrick’s Building 423
Telephone: 520-2342
Fax: 520-3575
E-mail: filmgrad@carleton.ca
The School
Acting Director, Bryan Gillingham
Supervisor of Graduate Studies,
Christopher Faulkner
The School for Studies in Art and
Culture offers a program of study and research leading to the
degree of Master of Arts in Film Studies. This is a disciplinary
M.A. with emphasis upon 1) the conceptual issues current
in the field, and 2) the problematics of various national
cinemas and other practices.
The program will develop in students a
broadly based expertise in the discipline. The study of Canadian
cinema is given a high priority, but provision is also made for
the study of other national cinemas, as well as for the study of
other traditions outside the mainstream, such as women’s
cinemas, post-colonial cinemas, and minority and regional
practices.
Most work in the program is on the
feature fiction film and its institutional foundations as an
object of study. However, in line with the expertise of members
of faculty, the study of other film forms like documentary,
animation, experimental film and video is a necessary part of the
course offerings.
Questions of critical and historical
method and problems of theory inform all of the courses in the
program. This conceptual emphasis is in line with the central
developments in Film Studies as a discipline over the past
twenty-five years.
Qualifying-Year Program
Applicants who lack an Honours degree,
but who have a 3 year degree in Film Studies or a related
discipline with a minimum standing of B+, may be admitted
to a qualifying-year program. Students who complete the
qualifying-year requirements with high honours standing or better
will be considered for admission to the master’s program.
The regulations governing the qualifying-year are outlined in the
general section of this calendar (see p. 54).
Master of Arts
Admission Requirements
The minimum requirement for admission to
the Master’s program in either a full-time or part-time
capacity is a B.A. Honours or the equivalent in Film Studies or a
related discipline with high honours standing. Related
disciplines might include Mass Communication, Art History,
Literature, Canadian Studies, Women’s Studies, and History.
Applicants without a background in Film Studies may be required
to take a maximum of two full credits from designated courses in
the undergraduate Film Studies program in addition to their
normal M.A. program requirements.
Program Requirements
The specific program requirements for
students in the M.A. program are as follows:
- 1.0 core credit required
- 2.0 additional credits
- Thesis (equivalent to 2.0 credits)
- Total of 5.0 credits required
In choosing the two additional credits
beyond the core seminar and the thesis, students may take 0.5
credit outside the Film Studies program subject to the approval
of the Graduate Supervisor.
Because of the strong conceptual demands
of the program and the expectation that students be able to
synthesize ideas in a substantial piece of written work, the
research essay option will not be available in partial
fulfillment of the requirements of the degree.
Deadlines
Normally, full-time students should
complete their course work by the end of the second term, and
part-time students by the end of the fifth term.
Thesis Proposal
Students will normally submit a detailed thesis proposal to the
thesis proposal committee no later than March 1 of the first year
of registration for students enrolled full-time and no later than
the middle of the fifth term of registration for students
enrolled part-time.
Language Requirements
A reading knowledge of French (or
another language approved by the Film Studies Graduate
Supervisor) is required.
Academic Standing
A standing of B- or better must
be obtained in each course counted towards the master’s
degree.
Courses
Not all of the following courses are
offered in a given year. For an up-to-date statement of course
offerings for 1998-99, please consult the Registration
Instructions and Class Schedule booklet published in
the summer.
F,W,S indicates term of offering.
Courses offered in the fall and winter are followed by T. The
number following the letter indicates the credit weight of the
course: 1 denotes 0.5 credit, 2 denotes 1.0 credit, etc.
Film Studies 19.500T2
Directions in Film Theory and Film
History
This course is intended to acquaint all
students in the program with recent developments in the areas of
film theory and film history. Topics to be covered may include
spectatorship, identity and gender politics, cultural studies,
fan cultures, performance, reception theory, the formation of
taste, the construction of audiences, discourse analysis,
historical method, and the concepts of national and transnational
cinemas.
Film Studies 19.501 F1, W1, S1
Directed Readings and Research
Tutorials designed to permit students to
pursue research on topics in Film Studies which have been chosen
in consultation with members of faculty.
Film Studies 19.502F1 or W1
Special Topics
This course offers selected topics in
film studies not available in the regular course program.
Film Studies 19.515F1 or W1
Changing Practices
This course looks at traditional and
recent developments in the practice of non-feature film forms
such as the documentary, the newsreel, experimental film, video
and television. Both the aesthetic particulars which distinguish
these forms from the fiction feature film and their social and
cultural roles are examined.
Film Studies 19.521F1 or W1
Topics in European Cinema
Some aspect of European cinema is the
focus of this course. A particular period, movement, style,
genre, narrative development or co-production practice may be
dealt with. Emphasis will be upon the problematic concept of a
national cinema in the light of current debates about
nation-ness. Examples to be studied include Britain, France,
USSR/Russia, Italy, Germany.
Film Studies 19.522F1 or W1
Cinemas of the America
This course examines one or more of the
cinemas of the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and
Brazil. A particular period, movement, style, genre, narrative
development or some relationship between these cinemas may be
dealt with. Emphasis will be upon the problematic concept of a
national cinema in the light of current debates about
nation-ness.
Film Studies 19.524F1 or W1
Cultural Mediations
This course examines the processes of
mediation that operate between mainstream and alternative,
independent or marginal film industries and practices. The
presence of third world cinemas in the first world, the reception
of first world cinemas in the third world, ethnic cinemas,
co-productions, art cinemas, video art, and subcultural
practices, along with their discourses of appropriation and/or
intervention are of particular interest.
Film Studies 19.528F1 or W1
Historical Traditions in Canadian Cinema
Selected aspects of the history of
cinema in Canada are the focus of this course. Emphasis is placed
upon the role that institutional bodies, government policies,
economic decisions, aesthetic traditions, and related cultural
pratices have had on the history of Canadian cinema.
Film Studies 19.529F1 or W1
Critical Perspectives on Canadian Cinema
This course examines current critical
approaches to Canadian film. Attention will be given to the
influence of Canadian cultural theory on thinking about cinema in
Canada. Methodological issues will be dealt with in the light of
the influence of foreign theory and criticism on film studies in
Canada.
Film Studies 19.541F1 or W1
Studies in Authorship
This course offers detailed attention to
the work of one or two filmmakers, with a concern for recent
ideas about the concept of authorship and the formation of
artistic and critical reputations.
Film Studies 19.550F1 or W1
Advanced Film Analysis
This course examines issues and
approaches to the detailed analysis of particular film texts.
Work in narratology, hermeneutics, discourse analysis,
psychoanalysis, deconstruction and semiotics will provide the
methodological background to the study of individual films.
Film Studies 19.551F1 or W1
Gender and Cinema
The social production and reproduction
of gender and gender relations through the cinema and its
representations are examined in this course. The consequences of
this work for feminist, gay and lesbian film practices and
politics form an important part of the course.
Film Studies 19.561F1 or W1
Studies in Genre
The theory and practice of film genres
will be the object of study in this course.
Film Studies 19.571F1 or W1
Topics in Animation
Institutional histories, the work of
individual animators, modes of production, and the social
function of animation represent topics to be covered by this
course.
Film Studies 19.590F1 or W1
Cinema and Modernism
This course examines cinema’s
relationship to the history and theory of modernism. The concerns
of classical film theory, the emergence of avant-garde, modernist
film practices, and film’s relationship to other
twentieth-century art forms represent areas of study in this
course.
Film Studies 19.591F1 or W1
Cinema and the Postmodern
An examination of cinema’s
relationship to the history and theory of postmodern cultural
practices in performance art, video, multimedia, architecture,
literature, music, and other examples of artistic postmodernism
is the focus of this course.
Film Studies 19.599
M.A. Thesis
|
