Simmons College

Interdisciplinary Minor in Cinema and Media Studies

The Department of English, in conjunction with the Department of Communications, is pleased to offer this interdepartmental minor. The minor covers the history, theory, criticism, and practice of the moving image, and aims to create active and critical viewers and producers of films and other audio-visual texts. The minor carries a five course load.

Students in the minor will learn:

1. The fundamental building blocks of film form, including mise en scene, editing, cinematography and sound.

2. To produce a piece of media (including film, photography and/or new media).

3. To distinguish between types of films (narrative, non-narrative, experimental, documentary) and well as film genres (comedy, film noir, western, musical).

4. To analyze how the images in film and media convey certain viewpoints or ideas.

5. To think about how media can be used in strategic and civic ways.


A Minor in Cinema and Media Studies Requires the Following:


English 195: Art of Film

English 221: The Critical Lens: Introduction to Film and Media Theory



Three Electives, Chosen from the Following:

Africana Studies 300: Black Popular Culture

Africana Studies 329: Tweeting Into the Future: Race, Technology & Social Media

Art/Communications 138: The Poetry of Photography*

Art/Communications 139: Introduction to Photography and the Digital Lab*

Art/Communications 232: Advanced Digital Photography*
Art/Communications 237: Advanced Black and White Photography*

Art/Communications 239: Documentary Photography*

Art 249: History of Photography

Art 256: Approaches to Contemporary Photography

Music 165: Music in Film

Chinese 214: Contemporary Chinese Cinema

Communications 120: Communications Media*

Communications 121: Visual Communications*

Communications 124: Media, Messages, and Society

Communications 222: Animation*

Communications 220: Video Production*

Communications 262: Media Convergence

Communications 263: Broadcast Writing

Communications 323: Digital Cultures: Communication and Social Media

Communications 333: Web II: Motion Graphics*

English 354: Studies in Film Genre

English 327: Race and Gender in Psychoanalytic Discourse

English 398: Feminist Media Studies

History 254: History Through Novels and Film

History 329: Film and Historical Representation

Philosophy 152: Philosophy Through Literature and Film

Spanish 314: Hispanic Culture as Seen through Film




** Restrictions on electives:

One elective must be a production class. (Production classes designated with *)

At least one elective must be at the 200 or 300 level.

No more than two photography classes will be counted toward the minor.



Affiliated Faculty Include:

Pamela Bromberg, Professor, Department of English

James Corcoran, Chair of the Department of Communications, Associate Professor of Communications

Marlene G. Fine, Professor, Department of Communications

Sheldon George, Associate Professor, Department of English

Ellen Grabiner, Associate Professor, Department of Communications

Kelly Hager, Chair of the Department of English, Associate Professor of English

Alister Ingles, Associate Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

Sarah Leonard, Associate Professor, Department of History

Suzanne Leonard, Assistant Professor, Department of English

Judy Richland, Lecturer, Department of Communications

Saher Selod, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology

Gregory Slowik, Associate Professor, Department of Art and Music



For more information on the minor please contact Suzanne Leonard (suzanne.leonard@simmons.edu) or Ellen Grabiner (ellen.grabiner@simmons.edu)