1022 (001) - Introduction to Film Studies POPULAR!
What is a blockbuster? What is a cult film? What is digital cinema? Discover the answers to these questions and others in a broad introduction to the study of cinema. Students will learn the basic vocabulary of film studies and gain an informed understanding of the different critical approaches to film analysis. 1.0 course

1022 (002) - Introduction to Film Studies POPULAR!
What is a blockbuster? What makes a documentary a documentary? What is expressionism? Discover the answers to these questions and others in a broad introduction to the study of cinema. In the first term, students will learn the basic vocabulary of film analysis. In the second term, we will study the methods and issues of film studies in general – what are genres and how do they relate to their social contexts? What is auteurism? What kind of films are there, beyond the narrative feature films we're familiar with? What is the history of the medium, and what alternatives to mainstream cinema have been proposed? By the end of the course you will have gained an informed understanding of the different critical approaches to film analysis and film studies. 1.0 course

2159A/B - Disney (Disney Dream Factory) POPULAR!
Benjamin Barber in The New York Times argued “whether Disney knows it or not, it is buying much more than our leisure time. It has a purchase on our values, on how we feel and think, and what we think about.” This course offers a closer look at Disney as one of America's most long-standing “dream factories,” examining the cultural narratives, industrial strategies, fantasies and ideologies that fuel Disney’s global impact in the 20^th and 21^st century. In addition to analyzing key Disney animated features, we will also look at the studio’s early cartoons, educational and advertising films, nature documentaries, live action films and propaganda shorts. We will study Disney’s relationship to art, politics and ecology and also examine the “invention” of childhood, notions of “family” entertainment and constructions of race, class and gender in Disney filmmaking. Films might include Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, Tron, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Song of the South, Steamboat Willy, Fantasia, The Lion King and Frozen. 0.5 course

2164B - Animation/Anime
This course explores the power of animation, with a particular emphasis on Japan. Students will study Japanese anime films and multimedia franchises as artistic expressions, as industrial products with relations to other cultural forms, and as objects through which consumers construct their social lives. This is a non-essay course, so the emphasis is on hands-on group work (analyzing images, putting together a sequence, researching anime's "media mix"), as well as regular forum posts and a final examination. The emphasis is on my own "otaku 1.0" history – science fiction, posthumanism, and apocalypse – but you will also have the opportunity to discuss your favorite contemporary animation. No prior knowledge of Japanese is required. 0.5 course

2191F - Special Topics in Film Studies | Bollywood Cinema: Re-Viewing India in the 21^st century
Bollywood, the mainstream Hindi-language film industry in India, is regarded as one of the world's largest and most prolific film industries. In this course, we aim to look at narratives in 21^st century Bollywood films which dismantle and interrogate mainstream representations of India. In examining representations of gender, religion, caste, class, the diaspora, and the nation, we will understand the role that mainstream Hindi cinema plays in nation-building and identity-formation. In doing so, we will also discuss the contestations that surround the term, ‘Bollywood’, and how ‘Bollywood’ is desired by re-making India in the Western and diasporic imaginations.

This course will be a continued commitment to Western University’s investment in EDID. All films in the course are in Hindi language, and will be available with English subtitles. No prior knowledge of Hindi or Bollywood is required. 0.5 course

2212F - Adapting across Page, Stage, and Screen (cross-listed with English 2112F and Theatre Studies 2212F)
How does the shape an artwork takes contribute to its aesthetic and political power? When artworks flex across form and media how do their messages change? What did Marshall McLuhan mean when he said “the medium is the message”? How do genre and form shape social and political discourse? In this course, students explore these questions and more as they investigate texts that assume multiple cultural forms and represent a diversity of perspectives. 0.5 course

2230F - Critical Reading and Writing in Film Studies
This course will build on skills and knowledge acquired in Film 1022 to engage students in the critical practices involved in reading various genres of writing in Film Studies. In addition to writing their own film reviews, students will learn research skills that prepare them for writing critical essays on cinema. 0.5 course

2252F - World Cinema
This course surveys the significant movements and expressions of world cinema outside of North America. It traces the development of the medium in Europe and its spread around the world, paying particular attention to Asia. The course encompasses all forms of cinema, from avant-garde films to politically-charged critiques of Hollywood as well as entertainment films. The goal is not to cover everything but to raise awareness of the aesthetic and political powers of the medium, in its various contexts. 0.5 course

2254F - Classical Hollywood Cinema
This course traces a history of American film from the silent period to the end of the studio era. Topics include the establishment of the Hollywood style, major directors/genres, as well as key industrial, technological, and cultural factors in the development of Hollywood cinema. 0.5 course

2258G - Canadian National Cinema
This course looks at Canadian cinema in relation to the category label, national cinema. What is the value of a national cinema? What is the popular imagination? How do the films speak to us about Canada, its history, its people and its politics? 0.5 course

2259F - Indigenous Cinema
Introduces students to Indigenous cinema across Turtle Island (North America) and beyond. Through lectures and weekly screenings, students will study how Indigenous peoples use the moving image to tell their own stories and foster resilience and resurgence in their communities. 0.5 course

3342G - Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema (1960-Present)
This course examines the economic, aesthetic, and ideological transformations in American film from the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s to the contemporary era of conglomeration, globalization, and digital media. Topics include the fall of the Production Code, the Hollywood Renaissance, American independent cinema, and the global blockbuster. 0.5 course

3362G - The Musical
Musical films are one of the most enduring forms of cinema, in Hollywood and around the world. This course explores the range of musical films, from all-singing, all-dancing extravaganzas to the eruption of "musical moments" in popular films, art cinema, and the avant-garde. 0.5 course

Winter 2025

3362G / 001

J. Faflak

Syllabus

3368F - Film Production
This course will explore the stylistic functions of basic film elements, e.g., camera movement, editing, sound, and colour, through the analysis and production of films. 0.5 course

3371F - Film Theory
This course will investigate major writings in two areas of classical film theory: the realism-formalism debate and the auteur theory. Additional topics in film poetics and semiotics will also be discussed. 0.5 course

4409E - Undergraduate Thesis
Individual instruction in the selection of a topic, the preparation of materials, and the writing of a thesis. Students who wish to take this course must apply to the Program Director. The course is restricted to students in fourth year of an Honours Specialization in Film Studies. 1.0 course

Fall/Winter

4409E / 001

Various

Consent Form / Evaluation Form

4495FG - Film Academic Internship
Third or fourth year students enrolled in an honours, major or specialization in Film Studies, who have a modular average of 75% are eligible for an internship within an approved media-related organization. The student must find a faculty supervisor willing to oversee and grade his/her final paper. 0.5 course

Fall/Winter

4495FG / 001

Various

Internship Guidelines