Film Historiography

3 units

This course is a seminar on the writing of film history for advanced students. Through an engagement with the historiographical writings of scholars, such as Dominic LaCapra, Hayden White, and Michel Foucault, students will gain an understanding of various genres of film historical writing, an appreciation for the kinds of research that film historians do, and a familiarity with the ways in which film historians delimit their field of study, form research questions, and develop hypotheses. In addition to reading and classroom discussions, students will be expected to write a fairly lengthy paper (17-20 pages) that involves original historical research and the close examination of trade press, professional journals, fan magazines, and news articles. As preparatory assignments leading up to the final project, students will also prepare project descriptions, bibliographies, and outlines that will be shared and discussed in a workshop format.