In the BA in Media and Film Studies program, you will:

• Gain an appreciation of how media, from the silent movie to YouTube and from print to the iPhone, is always situated in a larger context, one that involves social, political and economic factors
• Critically engage the question of what it means to be a consumer of media technology and entertainment in an increasingly globalized economy
• Acquire a historical perspective of how technology, from the ancient aqueducts to the Internet, has informed and shaped human identity and relation
• Interpret film as a social, political and economic text that exceeds its value as mere entertainment
• Become more conversant with the nature and aesthetics of film today by studying the history of film
• Become a critical thinker and participant in a rapidly changing and information-saturated contemporary global and media landscape
• Become a skilled writer, proficient in the craft of argument and research methods
• Interpret cultural artifacts or events as meaningful within the much broader context of social processes and power relations
• Examine how representations of gender and sexuality most often assume a natural identity, which has the effect of normalizing or containing desire
• Gain a deeper understanding of just how profound the American "experience" is shaped and altered by historical context, socio-political influence and class
• Consider the effect of globalization on the diverse cultural values of peoples living in areas of the world living outside the West
• Study the major theoretical systems that led to the interdisciplinary analysis of established disciplines in the post World War II era, and which precipitated the fields of cultural studies, media studies and film studies
• Consider how ideology functions as an everyday social practice, shaping our perception of reality in ways that exceed one's own self knowledge