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Media and Society Program Course Descriptions

100 Introduction to Media and Society

The course considers the cultural meanings conveyed in popular entertainment, children’s television, and advertising; the political economy of mass media ownership; and how the press mediates the public’s sense of political and social realities. Students examine serious issues raised by the pervasive influence of mass media, including the concentration of ownership over public communications, the commodification of culture, and how the media affects the process of political persuasion. This course is intended for students interested in gaining a better understanding of how we are influenced by public communications. (Robertson, Deutchman, and Staff, offered annually)

204 Imagining the West: The Myth and The Media

The image of the West in American culture is both real and imagined, historical and mythic. The so-called “frontier experience” has defined significant aspects of cultural life and continues to exert a hold on the imagination of Americans— and those beyond our shores. This class examines the West as an ideological construct formed in by both facts and legends, but most importantly, communicated and sustained by the mass media. Indeed, television and film productions have made the West as a vital part of American history and a continuing facet of our everyday lives, and that is the focus of the class. (Friedman, Fall)

205 America in the ’70s

It is easy to make fun of the ’70s with its big hair, bad music, and blighted fashions. Many historians see the first half of the decade as a pounding hangover from the radical ’60s and the second half as a counterbalancing prelude to the conservative ’80s, denying the ’70s any identity of its own. But beneath the glittering disco globes, a fundamental shift in the culture, society and ideology that defined American life—one reflected and refracted in the era's mass media and popular arts—took place from 1970 to 1979. This class explores the ’70s from the perspective of its cultural productions, paying particular attention to the critical intersections where the arts both influence and mediate the major historical events and intellectual currents of this decade. (Friedman, offered annually)

224 Age of Propaganda I: 1914-1945
225 Age of Propaganda II: 1945-2001

The advent of modern or mechanized warfare brought awareness that propaganda directed at the home front, the enemy, and neutrals was as essential to victory as effective deployment of resources, weapons, and soldiers. Propaganda techniques developed during World War I have had significant influence over the later emergence of public relations and advertising. This course examines the history and influence of war propaganda especially but not exclusively of the United States during the twentieth century, the Age of Propaganda. (Robertson, Spring, each offered alternate years)

300 Making the News

This course examines how the news is made. Students are introduced to the concept of narrative or representational paradigms used to structure news stories, epistemological and ethical questions in considering who makes the news and why, as well as to issues relevant to what constitutes news and its social implications. The course project consists of the research and editing of a film documentary. Students learn how to edit raw videotape to shape news stories and analyze the implications of their choices. The course develops skills in collaborative learning, research, critical thinking, writing, and editing for visual impact. Prerequisites: MDSC 100 and permission of instructor. (Robertson, offered alternate years)

303 Social Documentary

Photography and moving images have been used to enlighten those who do not suffer to the lives of those who do, to forward social change, and to influence social policy, sometimes progressively and sometimes not. This course examines visual social documentary’s influence, largely confined to consideration of American social documentarians, including influence of photographers of immigrants’ conditions in major cities during the early 20th century; government-sponsored documentation of rural Americans’ lives during the Great Depression; and documentary films which have shaped social conscience from consciousness. (Robertson, Spring, offered alternate years)

305 The Fine Cut: The Basics of Film Editing

This course offers an introduction to the art of film editing, with an emphasis on the practical aspects of editing. Students learn basic editing techniques for narrative and documentary film, using either Final Cut Pro or Avid. In addition to actual editing exercises using unedited rushes or dailies, students study film sequences to learn various editing styles and techniques. Finally, students study the relationship of a novel, its screen adaptation and the film in order to understand the relationship of editing to narrative. (Jiménez, offered annually)

307 Medicine and Society

The worlds of media and medicine exist in a unique symbiosis. Not only do medical issues fuel plot lines of popular television programs and films, the creation of cable channels devoted to health care matters, an ever-increasing number of books, newspaper stories, magazine articles, advertisements, and Internet sites, but these media outlets, in turn, alter the practice and delivery of health care in the U.S. The intricate web conjoining the culture of medicine and the production of media has become a pervasive, two-way process that reflects the public’s obsession with health care and the central role it occupies in our national consciousness. This class explores the interconnections between medicine and the media, investigating this collaborative enterprise that characterizes contemporary American society. (Friedman, offered annually)

400 Senior Seminar

This course is required of all Media and Society majors. Normally, seniors will enroll in this course; however, juniors may also enroll with the recommendation of their advisers. This seminar, which is a capstone course for the major, will focus on a topic determined by the instructor. This is a researchintense course. (Staff, Spring, offered annually)

485 Practicuum: Journalism for College Newspapers

A practicum offers students an opportunity to develop their knowledge of some aspect of the production and dissemination of information through the acquisition and use of practical skills learned from an experienced practitioner. This course is offered by an experienced journalist and feature-story writer. Course credit will be linked to reporting on local, community, national, and international issues for the HWS newspaper, The Herald. Cannot be used to satisfy the internship/ practicum requirement if used toward the concentration in Studies in Cultural Production. (Offered annually)

499 Media and Society Internship

Permission only.