BLKS 225 - Black Cinema

2023-2024 Catalog Year

Credit(s): 4
Lecture: 3
Non-Lecture: 3

This course examines the history of Black Cinema, that is, films made by and about Black people in the United States and/or within the global African Diaspora. We begin this course by asking, what is Black Cinema? What is it that makes Black Cinema unique? How is it related to the other art forms forged by Black artists in dance, music, and literature? How does Black Cinema address racism and social change in the United States and colonialism/post-colonialism in other national/cultural contexts such as Brazil, France, the UK, and/or Latin America? Topics to be covered include: economic strategies (independent vs. “mainstream” approaches), gender and sexuality, form and aesthetics of the moving image, the politics of representation and self-representation in film and other forms of media, and filmmaking as political practice.

Offered: Once a Year