Images in movies, on television, and on the net move and inspire us, structure our ideas of race, class, gender, and sexuality, community and identity. The GMU minor in Film & Media studies explores mass culture in its visual manifestations and helps students develop an informed awareness of culture and media, ideological tendencies, and effects on daily experience. Committed to interdisciplinarit
y, the program addresses the increasing complexity and multiplicity of visual cultures and offers students the tools with which to read a variety of texts, including film, television, video, and new media. Most course work is offered through the Departments of Communication and English, with other courses available through the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, AVT, and Film and Video Studies. The two required courses provide an introduction to the languages of film and popular media and modes of analysis appropriate to each. They are prerequisites for all advanced work in the minor. Students select four additional courses designed to introduce a more specialized level of study. Students may decide to focus on film, television, or the study of mass culture, or they may choose some mix of courses that suits their interests.
