6 Credits | Dr. Leiya LEE
This course introduces major critical approaches to Film Studies by examining how different theories have conceptualised cinema. Starting from the fundamental question of cinematic realism, then moving towards issues of form and semiotics, and then to “monolithic” theories such as apparatus theory, authorship, psychoanalysis, feminism, phenomenology, cognitivism, and so on, and finally ruminating on the medium’s future, the course traces the shifting questions that have shaped film theory across the history of the medium. This course aims to equip students with tools to read and think critically and analytically about films — to form their own informed opinions about what it takes to be #AbsoluteCinema.
Assessment: 100% coursework.