MDSC

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

modes, methods, and themes. We will explore the role of the media in shaping social consciousness, global econo- mies, and material culture. Examples drawn from film, television, print media, and digital environments will be con- textualized, analyzed, and theorized as crucial elements of our media culture. Students will gain an appreciation for the social, cultural, economic, and political influences of global communications while performing close readings of conventional media objects. Writing assignments, exams, and projects will help to cement insights gained through close investigation of films, TV shows, advertisements, video games, music videos, and more. MDSC 101 Information and Influence: Digital Media Literacies Information and Influence: Digital Media Literacies teaches strategies for critically apprehending the cultural, economic, technological, and political factors that shape our media-saturated culture. Students in this course will investigate a wide range of media objects including news- papers, magazines, TV shows, documentaries, podcasts, apps, newsletters, and memes. Learning how to assess the reliability and cultural context of the information that we encounter will be a focus of the class. Students will analyze and explore the repackaging of legacy media broadcasts for streaming networks and other online platforms, the proliferation of misinformation on social media, the structures and effects of influencer culture, algorithmic biases, and, the emergence of new outlets for independent, non-profit, and community journalism, among other subjects. This course highlights the acquisition of media production skills, such as creating content and applications as key strategies for developing diverse media literacies. HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 313 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

mation in 1914 to the present. It also surveys the complex, fluid interrelationships between the nonprofit and for prof- it sectors of the film industry by exploring documentary and experimental work. The course analyzes ways that the economic practices, organizational structures, management hierarchies, marketing strategies, exhibition strategies, labor issues, and aesthetic formations of the studio system, documentary, and experimental film have changed over different historical periods and formations. The course investigates the rise of Hollywood, the golden age of the stu- dio system, the advent of the Production Code, the relationship between Hollywood and the US government during the second World War, the Paramount decree and the break up of the studio system, the rise of the New Hollywood, the development of global Hollywood, and the corporatization of ‘independent’ cinema in the 1980s and l990s. The course explores how Hollywood, documentary and experimental film are intertwined.

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

MDSC 330 Special Topics: Propaganda, PR, and the News (MDSC 330 MDSC 330 Special Topics: Global Video Game Cultures (MDSC 330)

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

who do not suffer to the lives of those who do, to forward social change, and to influence social policy, sometimes progressively and sometimes not. This course examines visual social documentary’s influence, largely confined to consideration of American social documentarians, including influence of photographers of immigrants’ conditions in major cities during the early 20th century; government-sponsored documentation of rural Americans’ lives during the Great Depression; and documentary films which have shaped social conscience from consciousness.

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

themes. We will explore the role of media in shaping social consciousness, material culture, and the experience of modern life. We will survey key theoretical works in media studies and cultural studies by reading them along with primary documents such as film texts, radio broadcasts, television programs, magazine and newspaper articles, soundtracks, digital environments, and more. Consumer attitudes, narrative forms, artistic practices, and modes of production will be investigated for their ideological underpinnings. MDSC 309 Media Industries and Alternatives At the end of a film, television show, or other media text, a credit sequence may list hundreds of individuals and companies. What roles do they play? How do changing economic conditions, labor practices, federal and state policies, new technologies, and consumer habits influence their work? HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 314 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

of experimental and avant-garde cinema. Through practice, students will explore alternative forms of storytelling, cinematography, and editing techniques. The intersections between film/video and other art forms such as painting, dance, photography will be part of this introduction. Students will also examine major movements in experimental/ avant-garde cinema such as structuralism, post-structuralism, feminist, queer, and radical Black trends to approach the art of film-making as a socially and critically informed practice. MDSC 313 Global Cinema This course investigates contemporary global cinema, charting the boundaries of the term global cinema as a critical and industrial framework. What is global cinema? Why do some films circulate interna- tionally while others remain fixed within national or regional cultures? How have new media modes of distribution like instant streaming shaped global cinema? Through a focus on the politics and economics of film distribution, we will explore global cinema and its intersections with various national cinemas, including the cinemas of the US, Italy, India, China, Mexico, Japan, Senegal, Iran, Peru, and Canada, among others. We will consider the impact of interna- tional film festivals, trade policies, immigration, transnational stardom, piracy, translation, and censorship on con- temporary global cinema. MDSC 315 Introduction Social Documentary This course is an introduction to the power of the visual social docu- mentary as a force for social change. Students will study the history of social documentary photography and film and learn how to research, develop, shoot, edit, and critique social documentary videos using introductory level cameras and editing software. Considerable time must be spent working independently and collaboratively outside of regular class time. MDSC 317 Branding as Cultural Practice Recent studies show that American children can identify 1000+ brand logos but not even 10 types of plant. How has our environment become so saturated with brands? And what are the cultur- al, economic, interpersonal, and ecological effects of brand ubiquity? In this course, we will interrogate the ways that brands have become structuring elements of our everyday lives. Students will study the cultural and historical practices of branding by analyzing a range of brand examples from Spike Lee’s Air Jordan commercials to Ikea’s AR application to virtual influencers like Lil Miquela and Guggimon. Readings and screenings will contextualize the various histories and uses of branding as culture including, but not limited to, branding: as a manufacturing practice; as an expression of identity-based political movements; as a material example of economic systems; as a tool for propaganda; and, as a tool for activism. Project-based activities that engage televisual aesthetics, print media, and augmented reality will provide opportunities for practicing design thinking. MDSC 319 Listening to the Finger Lakes This course introduces students to the principles of audio storytelling and production while immersed in the Finger Lakes region. We will consider Indigenous ecologist and poet Robin Wall Kimmerer’s idea of “re-story-ation” and her argument that we can heal our relationship with our planet if we learn to hear its stories. We will collaborate with community members (Indigenous, local, or immigrant) to create a four-epi- sode podcast about the Finger Lakes area. Each episode will take the form of a hike and chat with the invited guest through a nearby state park, farm, or conservation area, in the woods and meadows, along the lakes and streams. In producing this podcast, we will also examine concepts such as critical ecology, eco-feminism, and multi-species ethnography and their relevance to media and society. We will learn to appreciate the interconnectedness of human and non-human beings to enact reparative and ethical storytelling and listening in other contexts. MDSC 322 Stardom Andy Warhol reportedly predicted, “In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.” This course explores the enduring resonance of that prophecy in contemporary media cultures. We situate an in- vestigation of contemporary stardom and celebrity within the history of industrial star systems, focusing initially on the Hollywood star system in the 1950s. Our analysis of star images that define and critique that system – including Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, and Michael Jackson – examines the production of star images, the politics of celeb- rity, and the reception and transformation of star images by fan cultures. We then investigate contemporary forms HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 315 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 307 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 308

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Cross-listed:

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Cross-listed:

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

MDSC 495/496 Honors HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 316 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

MDSC

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu