MCM Courses 2007-2008

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Undergraduate (0100-1700)
Graduate (2100-2990)

**Please note: Syllabus link isn't available at this time for most of the courses!

FALL 2007 Courses

MCM 0100 Screens and Projections: Modern Media Cultures
An introduction to key forms that constitute modern media and cultural practices: print, photography, film, recorded sound, television, video, and digital media. We will examine the material construction of these objects and produce critical accounts of them as representational forms, drawing on major theoretical concepts, approaches and strategies.
Philip Rosen | Syllabus

MCM 0260 Cinematic Coding and Narrativity
Examination of the structural and ideological attributes of cinema, concentrating on the dominant narrative model developed in the American studio system and alternatives to that model. Emphasis on recent theories of cinematic representation. Students become conversant with specific elements and operations of the cinematic apparatus (e.g. camera, editing, soundtrack) and the production of discursive meanings. LL
Michael Silverman | Syllabus

MCM 0710 Introduction to Filmmaking
The basic technology of film practice, including use of cameras, simple lighting, sound recording, and editing. Students produce a series of short, non-sync films. No previous experience or skills are required. Demonstrations and studio work. Prerequisites (two of the following): MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110 or equivalent. Application required. Applications (available at the MCM department) should be completed and returned by, April 10, 2007 (Sem I 2007) and October 10, 2007 (Sem II 2008.) Decisions will be posted on the MCM office door at the beginning of pre-registration. Enrollment limited to 15. Written permission required. S/NC.
Alan Sondheim | Syllabus | Download Application

MCM 0720 Intermediate Filmmaking (CANCELLED)
Continues work that began in MCM0710, introducing more sophisticated production techniques, including sync sound. Screenings will emphasize films that reside outside of conventional cinema. Students complete a group project and a 5-10 minute sync sound film. Demonstrations, discussions and studio work. Prerequisite: MCM0710. Application required. Applications (available at the MCM department) should be completed and returned by, April 10, 2007. Decisions will be posted on the MCM office door at the beginning of pre-registration. Enrollment limited to 12. Written permission required. S/NC.
Leslie Thornton | Syllabus | Download Application

MCM 0900Q The Horror Film
An introduction to the horror film from German Expressionism through American slasher to postmodern parodies. Topics include monstrosity (freaks, vampires, zombies), violence (splatter, docuhorror, ultraviolence), affect (shock, pain, fear), and Otherness (gender, race, the supernatural). Theoretical approaches include psychoanalysis, philosophy, cultural studies, and feminism; the course will also emphasize close textual analysis. Readings range from Freud, Todorov, Kristeva and Zizek to film theorists Carol Clover, Noel Carroll, and Vivian Sobchack. Films include "Freaks," "Night of the Living Dead," "Psycho," "Peeping Tom," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "I Spit on Your Grave," "Shaun of the Dead," and avant-garde horror. Prerequisite: one previous MCM course. Enrollment limited to 20. Preferences given to sophomores and juniors. Interested students who cannot pre-register should come to the first day of class for an application for admission by instructor’s permission.
Eugenie Brinkema | Syllabus

MCM 1110 Theory of the Sign
A survey of three theorists: Louis Althusser, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Foucault. Readings range from Althusser's Reading Capital to Foucault's History of Sexuality. Discussion focuses on these figures as they emerge from/intervene in the field of semiotics, with particular attention to the developments in each oeuvre and the differences among them. Prerequisite - one of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110.
Ellen Rooney | Syllabus

MCM 1201C Imagined Networks, Glocal Connections
This course examines emergent imagined networks (anti-globalization activists, youtubers, second lifers, NGOs) fostered by new media technologies and applications. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the changing relationship between the local and the global, and how “glocal” phenomena affect national and personal identities. Readings will be theoretical, historical, political and literary. Prerequisite - one of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260 1110.
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun | Syllabus

MCM 1502I Foucault and Comparative Thinking (CANCELLED)
Focuses on the thematics and controversies of Foucault's work, both through examination of his texts (e.g. History of Sexuality, Discipline and Punish, The Order of Things, and others) and through discussions of his interlocutors writing on subjects such as sexual politics, knowledge production, history, feminism, literature, race and bipower. Prerequisite: two MCM courses.Preferences given to juniors and seniors in Modern Culture and Media, Art-Semiotics, Modern Culture and Media-German, Modern Culture and Media-Italian, Semiotics-French, Comparative Literature, English, History, and Philosophy. All others seek permission from the instructor.
Rey Chow

MCM 1502J Race as Archive
Examination of the importance of race to the logic and practice of biological, technological and cultural archives. Engaging the similarities and differences between the categorization of race in these fields, the course will focus on race as a justification for archives more broadly, and race as an archival trace--"evidence" of a biological or cultural history. Readings will be theoretical, historical and literary. Preferences given to students in Modern Culture and Media, Art-Semiotics, Modern Culture and Media-German, Modern Culture and Media-Italian, Semiotics-French, Ethnic Studies, and Science & Technology Studies. All others seek permission from the instructor.
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun | Syllabus

MCM 1502K Real TV
How does television bring "real" events to us? How do we know what's "real"? What kinds of "realities" exist on television, and how do they operate (in relationship to one another, to TV fantasy, and to our everyday lives)? This course will consider not only some specific "reality genres" (news, catastrophe coverage, "surveillance programming," documentary and docudrama, talk and game shows, reality series and "docu-soaps") but the representational modes that define the reality of commercial television as a whole. Issues to be addressed include: TV "liveness," crisis and scandal, therapeutic discourses, "surveillance society," media simulation, realism and anti-realism, civic and commercial discourses, and television's construction of history and knowledge. Enrollment limited to 20. Preference given to graduate students, seniors, and juniors in Modern Culture & Media and Art-Semiotics. Prerequisites: two previous MCM courses. Interested students who cannot pre-register should come to the first day of class for an application for admission by instructor permission.
Lynne Joyrich | Syllabus

MCM 1502L Warhol
Concentrating on a full description and analysis of the films, from BLOW JOB
to LONESOME COWBOYS. But also: the onset and consolidation of pop art;
the elaboration of queer aesthetics; the hyper-realization of commodification (art world and beyond); Velvet Underground and Nico; the rise and demise of "the '60s"; Edie, Ultra Violet, Viva, Ondine, Taylor Mead; duration, boredom, immobility, heroin, sudden death. Prerequisite - two of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110.
Michael Silverman | Syllabus

MCM 1700D Problems of Documentary
An advanced seminar for students of video and/or film production. Focuses on the critical discussion and production of documentary. A major project (10-20 minutes) and in-class presentations of work-in-progress required. Readings on the theory and practice of the form and selective screenings augment the presentation of student work. Application required. Applications (available at the MCM department) should be completed and returned by, April 10, 2007. Decisions will be posted on the MCM office door at the beginning of pre-registration. Enrollment limited to 20. Written permission required. S/NC.
Anthony Cokes | Syllabus | Download Application

MCM 1700J TV/TV: Commercial and Alternative Television
Given the centrality of commercial television in our culture, what possibilities exist for independent television viewing and/or independent television production? How might we re-write TV, either by stimulating alternative readings and new interpretive practices or by creating alternative texts and new modes of transmission? Combining theory and practice (television studies and video production), this course will encourage students to critique commercial television through both media analysis and their own video work. Enrollment limited to 20. Preference given to advanced students(graduate students, seniors, juniors) in Modern Culture & Media, Art-Semiotics,MCM German, MCM Italian, Semiotics French and Visual Arts. Prerequisites - two of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110. Interested students who cannot pre-register should come to the first day of class to fill out an application for admission by instructor permission.
Lynne Joyrich & Michael Udris | Syllabus

MCM 1700M Techniques of Surveillance
Surveillance has been an object of cultural fascination since the mid-twentieth century. At first, it was seen as a menacing specter of government or corporate power, but in recent years surveillance has begun to appear increasingly harmless, friendly, even desirable. Surveillance is now represented not only as a technology of military and police control but also as a form of entertainment (reality TV) and as a way of making life more convenient (dashboard GPS devices). This shift has paralleled a dramatic rise in the sophistication and pervasiveness of surveillance through such technologies as Web cams, biometric identification systems, geographic information systems, and data mining. This production seminar investigates surveillance as subject matter and as means of production in various cultural forms, including literature, cinema, reality television, social software, and media art. Students give in-class presentations and produce independent and collaborative art projects. Readings include Phil Agre, Mark Andrejevic, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Laura Mulvey, and George Orwell. Screenings include the television series “Big Brother” and the films “Rear Window,” “The Conversation,” and “Enemy of the State.” Prerequisite: one MCM course.
Mark Tribe | Syllabus

MCM 1700P Radical Media
Walter Benjamin wrote that in the age of mechanical reproduction art ceases to be based on ritual and “begins to be based on another practice--politics.” What is the relation between art and politics in an age of digital distribution? This production seminar explores the nexus of media and radical political action, paying special attention to artistic practices that mobilize media tactically to engage hegemonic power structures. Students will explore political action through the development of their own art work: identifying issues, conducting research, defining tactics, and creating media projects. The course examines historical examples of radical media, including radio and video art, culture jamming, and hacktivism, placing them in historical context and developing a critique of these practices based on readings including Hakim Bey, Bertolt Brecht, Andrea Cano, and Critical Art Ensemble. The course also considers jihadi video produced by militant Islamist groups as an example of radical media. Prerequisite: one MCM course.
Mark Tribe | Syllabus

MCM 1970 Directed Research: Modern Culture and Media
Section numbers vary by instructor. Ples see the registration staff for the correct section number to use when registering for this course.

MCM 1990 Honors Thesis/Project in Modern Culture and Media
Section numbers vary by instructor. Please see registration staff for the correct section number to use when registering for this course. Eight semester students only.

MCM 2100E Mimeticism and Cross-Cultural Representation
Though much criticized and discredited especially since poststructuralism, mimeticism as a theoretical problem has lost none of its critical interest. This course revisits aspects of well-known debates on the mimetic, examines ideologically related issues, and explores mimeticism's relevance in cross-cultural representation as well as in literary studies. Preference given to graduate students in Modern Culture and Media, Comparative Literature, English, and other disciplines to which mimeticism is of revelance. All others seek permission from the instructor.
Rey Chow | Syllabus

MCM 2110D History of Theory: The Case of Roland Barthes
The shift from the rigors of structuralism to poststructuralist celebrations of the text is strikingly evident in the work of Roland Barthes. Looking at Barthes's engagement with the lures and limits of structuralism, we will read, among other texts, his Mythologies, Elements of Semiology, S/Z, Empire of Signs, The Pleasure of the Text, Roland Barthes, A Lover's Discourse, Camera Lucida. Permission required for undergraduates only; undergraduates seeking permission must attend the first class session.
Elizabeth Weed | Syllabus

MCM 2310C Eisenstein and Political Modernism
Eisenstein's theories and films are a formative moment in cinema and media history, bringing together the ambitions of politicized film and modernist aesthetics. From the first, they were Invoked by a range of radical theorists and filmmakers all the way from Brecht and Benjamin to Metz and Deleuze, as well as a variety of filmmaking practices such as militant documentary, third cinema and Godard. In this seminar, we will intensively study Eisenstein's theories, filmic practices and shifting historical contexts, from the heady days of the politically and aesthetically avant-garde 1920s, through the transformations of his theories in the 1930s and 1940s (many only available posthumously) and of his later film projects (several unfinished). We will also trace out some filiations and rereadings of Eisenstein within the history of politically conversant modernist film practices and theories. Permission required for undergraduates only; undergraduates seeking permission must attend the first class session.
Philip Rosen | Syllabus

MCM 2980 Independent Reading and Research in Modern Culture & Media
Indivisual reading and research for doctoral candidates. Not open to undergraduates. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please see the Registration staff for the correct section number to use when registering for this course.

MCM 2990 Thesis Preparation
For Graduate students only

Spring 2008 Courses

MCM 0150 Text/Media/Culture: Readings in Theory
An introduction to the theoretical foundations of contemporary cultural criticism. We will study those theories of language and representation, signification and textuality, narrative and image, fantasy and ideology, and modernity and postmodernity that have been crucial to understanding modern culture and media texts (including literary, photographic, film, television, and digital media texts). Readings will range from the work of such scholars as Saussure, Levi-Strauss, Marx, and Freud to Barthes, Fanon, Irigaray, and Butler.
Lynne Joyrich | Syllabus

MCM 0230 Digital Media
This course introduces students to the study of digital media. Moving from its popular mass forms to alternative artistic installations, from cyberpunk fiction and movies to facebook.com, we will study the aesthetics, politics, history and theory of digital media. Special attention will be paid to its relation to social/cultural formations (gender, sexuality, race, global flows).
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun | Syllabus

MCM 0710 Introduction to Filmmaking (CANCELLED)
The basic technology of film practice, including use of cameras, simple lighting, sound recording, and editing. Students produce a series of short, non-sync films. No previous experience or skills are required. Demonstrations and studio work. Prerequisites (two of the following): MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110 or equivalent. Application required. Applications (available at the MCM department) should be completed and returned by, April 10, 2007 (Sem I 2007) and October 10, 2007 (Sem II 2008.) Decisions will be posted on the MCM office door at the beginning of pre-registration. Enrollment limited to 15. Written permission required. S/NC.
Leslie Thornton | Syllabus | Download Application

MCM 0730 Introduction to Video Production
Provides the basic principles of video technology and independent video production through a cooperative, hands-on approach utilizing small format video (Mini DV). Emphasizes video as a critical intervention in social and visual arts contexts. Prerequisites (two of the following): MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110 or equivalent. Application required. Applications (available at the MCM department) should be completed and returned by, April 10, 2007 (Sem I 2007) and October 10, 2007 (Sem II 2008.) Decisions will be posted on the MCM office door at the beginning of pre-registration. Enrollment limited to 12. Written permission required. S/NC.
Anthony Cokes | Syllabus | Download Application

MCM 0740 Intermediate Video Production
Expanded principles of independent video production utilizing small format video (Mini DV). Emphasizes video as a critical intervention in social and visual arts contexts. A major project (10-20 minutes) and a class presentation concerning your project are required. Prerequisite: MCM0730. Application required. Applications (available at the MCM department) should be completed and returned by, October 10, 2007. Decisions will be posted on the MCM office door at the beginning of pre-registration. Enrollment limited to 15. Written permission required. S/NC.
Anthony Cokes | Syllabus | Download Application

MCM 0750 Digital Art
What would Andy Warhol ’s Facebook page look like? What would John Cage have done with an iPod? This introductory production course combines history, theory, and practice to explore the intersection of art and emerging digital technologies. Students work independently and in small groups on art projects that make use of new media. Examples of recent student work include a 3D model of a cybercafe for Google Earth, a Dadaist video game, MySpace pages for dead architects, and an iTunes visualizer that creates customized music videos by using song lyrics to look up photos on Flickr. The course will examine and critique groundbreaking new media projects by various artists, as well as art historical precursors/influences. Theoretical readings include Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, Marshall McLuhan, and Raymond Williams. Prerequisite: one MCM course.
Mark Tribe | Syllabus

MCM 0900O Code, Software and Serious Games
What does it mean to study software? This class will investigate the claim of theorist Lev Manovich that media studies must move toward an embrace of software studies. From Microsoft Word to the World of Warcraft, we will examine the impact of code on the production and interpretation of media objects, studying the rise of software and computer games as a cultural and aesthetic texts. Our discussions will orbit the following question: How does programming and code, interactivity and gaming change our understanding of traditional media, art and everyday life? Potential readings by Kittler, Hayles, Chun, Galloway, Lyotard, Wark. Potential games include SimCity, Second Life,Facade, first person shooters, and user hacks/game modifications. Enrollment limited to 20. Prerequisite - one of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110. All others seek permission from the instructor.
Braxton Soderman | Syllabus

MCM 0900P Mediating Bodies: Power and Technology
in the Biopolitical Age
This course analyzes the emergence of biotechnology in contemporary culture and politics. Ranging from critical theories of science and information to critical theories of media and technology, we will explore modern Western culture's investments and interventions in the "natural" body. Topics include evolution and eugenics, race, biometrics, genetics and genomics, issues in reproduction and cloning, cyborgs, and DNA as code. We will give careful consideration to their emergence in the discourses of both science and popular culture and to the technologies and media that support our understanding of such processes. Overall, we will ask: what are the consequences of these manifestations of modern and postmodern power in the most basic conditions of life? Readings will include: Foucault, Canguilhem, Sekula, Kittler, Darwin, Watson, Jacob, Thacker. Enrollment limited to 20. Prerequisite - one of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110. All others seek permission from the instructor.
David Bering-Porter | Syllabus

MCM 1201D Hitchcock
Beginning with the provincial successes of his British productions (1927-1939)
we will trace the director's increasingly playful mastery and subversion of the dominant Hollywood studio style, and his construction of "Hitchcock" as a
veritable brand-name for authorship, control and calculated disturbance. A wide range of films, from THE LODGER to MARNIE. Close attention to classic analyses: Bellour, Edelman, Elsaesser, Mulvey, Ranciere, Wollen, Zizek, etc.
Michael Silverman | Syllabus

MCM 1502D Figures of Fetishism
Beginning with early European imaginings of the African fetish and their traces in Kant and Hegel, the seminar will focus on the ways fetishism figures in the theories of Marx and Freud, as well as in contemporary theorists who find fetishism compelling. Readings: Marx, Althusser, Freud, Lacan, Zizek, Bhabha, Mulvey, and others. Prerequisite - two of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110. Preferences given to juniors, seniors and graduate students. All others seek permission from the instructor.
Elizabeth Weed | Syllabus

MCM 1502M After Post-Structuralism: Multiplicities
At the very time"identity" theories and politics of the 1980s were challenging the high post-structuralist models of the 60s and 70s, a number of texts emerged critiquing identity around issues of human aggregation and collectivity. Questions of multiplicity, the mass body, man-as-species in works by Agamben, Badiou, Deleuze, Foucault, and later writers such as Hardt, Negri, Zizek and others. Requirements: 3 short (4 to 6 pp.) papers; one class presentation. Prerequisite - two of the following: MCM 0100, 0150, 0230, 0240, 0250, 0260, 1110. Preferences given to juniors and seniors in Modern Culture and Media, Art-Semiotics, Modern Culture and Media-German, Modern Culture and Media-Italian, Semiotics-French, Anthropology, Comparative Literature, English, Gender Studies, and Philosophy. All others seek permission from the instructor.
Michael Silverman & Nancy Armstrong | Syllabus

MCM 1700N Open Source Culture (Replacing MCM1700R)
Where do we draw the line between sampling and stealing? What does it mean for Duchamp to call a urinal a work of art? This course explores the tension between artistic appropriation and intellectual property law, and considers recent efforts to use open source software as a model for cultural production. We will trace a history of open source culture from Cubist collage through Pop art and found footage film to Hip Hop and movie trailer mashups. Students give presentations and produce media projects. Readings include Lawrence Lessig, Rosalind Krauss, Nicholas Bourriaud, and Paul D. Miller. Prerequisite: at least one MCM course.
Mark Tribe | Syllabus

MCM 1700Q Approaches to Media Form
A production seminar for advanced students, organized around the successful completion of a major film or video project. Screenings and discussions will emphasize alternative approaches to media practice. Students will lead presentations on their own work. Intermediate level production class required. Application required. Applications (available at the MCM department) should be completed and returned by, October 10, 2007. Decisions will be posted on the MCM office door at the beginning of pre-registration. Enrollment limited to 20. Written permission required. S/NC.
Michael Udris | Syllabus | Download Application

MCM 1700R Curatorial Practices (CANCELLED)
It is sometimes said in contemporary art circles that curators are the new artists. Curating involves a wide range of activities, including research, selection, commissioning, collaboration with artists, recontextualization, presentation, interpretation, and critical writing. This production seminar considers curatorial practice as a form of authorship. Particular attention is paid to questions of audience, ethical responsibility, and institutional context. Readings include Svetlana Alpers, Mieke Bal, Douglas Crimp, Okwui Enwezor, and Hans Ulrich Obrist. Students research and present recent museum and gallery exhibitions, biennials, and public art projects as case studies, read relevant theoretical texts, and curate exhibitions of contemporary art both individually and in collaborative groups. Prerequisite: one MCM course.
Mark Tribe | Syllabus

MCM 1970 Directed Research: Modern Culture and Media
Section numbers vary by instructor. Ples see the registration staff for the correct section number to use when registering for this course.

MCM 2120B New Media Theory
An interdisciplinary investigation of “New Media Theory,” bringing together historically significant texts from the fields of media, film, literary, music, visual, HCI and cultural studies, with more recent texts in new media studies. As well as exposing students to the canon (from hypertext theory to software studies, HCI to media archaeology), the course will also address the question: what is at stake in the creation of this canon and this discipline? Preferences given to Seniors and Graduate Students in Modern Culture and Media, Art-Semiotics, Modern Culture and Media-German, Modern Culture and Media-Italian, Semiotics-French, English, Comparative Literature, German, Literatry Arts, Music, and Science and Technology Studies. All others seek permission from the instructor.
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun | Syllabus

MCM 2300B Television, Gender, and Sexuality
This course investigates how television produces and reproduces constructions of gender and sexuality through its institutional form (as it maps relations between the public and the private, the domestic and the social, the inside and the outside), narrative patterns (as it circulates family romances, links gender and genre, and mediates sexual and social tensions), and spectatorial relations (as it variously addresses viewers as sexed and gendered subjects, consumers and commodities, familial and defamiliarized viewers). Enrollment limited to 20. Preference given to graduate students, and then to seniors and juniors in Modern Culture & Media, Art-Semiotics, MCM-German, MCM-Italian, Semiotics French and Gender and Sexuality Studies. Instructors permission required for all undergraduate students. Interested students who cannot pre-register should come to the first day of class to fill out an application for admission
Lynne Joyrich | Syllabus

MCM 2990 Thesis Preparation
For Graduate students only