Course Descriptions
Media Studies (MDIA)

To view the complete schedule of courses for
each semester, go to Cardinal Students.

MDIA 201: Intro to Media Studies
3.00 Credits

Students learn basic media literacy by developing conceptual tools to think critically about cinema, television, advertising, print journalism, the internet, etc. The course focuses on the process of reading media texts from distinct rhetorical perspectives--in terms of a text's form and in terms of its relationships to audiences, authors, and the real world--in order to explore how the mass media shape and convey meaning.

MDIA 202: Media and History
3.00 Credits

Introduces students to the history of media and to the stakes of historical inquiry. Explores media literacies in and across time. Considers the technological, social, economic, and perceptual conditions that make print, broadcast, and digital media meaningful. Students learn to think carefully about transitions and interactions among media and culture in the past in order better to understand the pace and character of change today.

MDIA 303: Media and Rhetoric
3.00 Credits

Considers the mass media in light of traditional rhetorical principles. Introduces students to classical persuasion theory; the invention of argument, character, and emotion; the function of arrangement and style; and the relevance of all of these to the study of film, television, advertising, and other forms of mass media. Same as ENG 430.

MDIA 304: Junior Seminar in Media Studies
3.00 Credits

A research and writing seminar in the critical study of culture and media. Drawing on the conceptual foundations established in MDIA 201 and MDIA 202, students design research projects using primary and secondary sources. For sophomore and junior majors.

MDIA 306: The Italian-American Experience: A Survey
3.00 Credits

In this course students will analyze Italian migration in the United States from a cultural and literary point of view. The formation of a new identity arises from the bridging of the former culture and the new one to master. This process of formation, along with the issues raising from the condition of immigrants and the energy drawn from a new economic situation of mobility, have led Italian American artists to express themselves successfully in fiction and poetry, in film and the visual arts. These are some of the aspects that students, after a historical introduction to the phenomenon, will observe and study during the semester. Lectures are supplemented by film excerpts and guest lecturers. Same as ITAL 206

MDIA 321: Legal Issues in Communications
3.00 Credits

Acquaints students with American's constitutional heritage of free expression and right to privacy in the content of one¿s communications. In particular, course will overview U.S. Constitution and federal legislative scheme, then consider and analyze the government's involvement with, surveillance of, and control over broadcast and print media, cellular communications, computers, the Internet and emerging technologies. Primary attention to practical issues that affect media professionals, including libel, invasion of privacy, access to government information, Fourth Amendment privacy rights, the courts, and the powers of the Federal Communications Commission.

MDIA 329: History of British Cinema
3.00 Credits

An exploration of British cinema from its origins until the present day. Focuses on the production and distribution of British films, as well as provides an analysis of specific films important to a history of cinema as an art form and medium of mass communication. Same as HIST 329.

MDIA 330: Introduction to Journalism
3.00 Credits

Introduces students to research and writing techniques used by professional journalists. Explores the history of journalism and examines its impact on communities and its role within a democracy.

MDIA 331: Television Reporting
3.00 Credits

Provides students with the basic foundations of television news reporting, including the gathering and processing of information for broadcast. Significant emphasis is placed on news writing and interviewing skills as well as on major issues that impact television news reporting, such as diversity, ethics, and storytelling. The course helps students develop skills that enhance communications and improve critical thinking, particularly as it relates to all forms of media. Some familiarity with video editing software is helpful.

MDIA 333: Advanced Journalism
3.00 Credits

Developing principles and skills learned in Introduction to Journalism, students learn how to report the news, follow a beat, and develop feature writing skills, in laboratory and real-world settings. Prerequisite: MDIA 330 or equivalent experience.

MDIA 334: Ethics and Journalism
3.00 Credits

The course focuses on issues of news media credibility, ethical judgments of journalists, and news decision making in light of overall declines in news media ratings and credibility. The course also examines coverage of current news stories, news practices and standards. Case studies and recent examples of news stories are used to explore tough issues, such as confidential sources, privacy, hidden cameras, hostage situations, and race relations.

MDIA 335: Opinion and Editorial Writing
3.00 Credits

no description available

MDIA 336: Investigative Reporting
3.00 Credits

This course provides instruction on how to do advanced, in-depth reporting and news writing involving a variety of information gathering and research methods. Students learn about primary and secondary sources of information, including documents, databases, interviews, and observation. Detailed research using computer assisted reporting techniques is explored. The course emphasizes both practical and theoretical approaches to doing investigative reports. Prerequisite: MDIA 330 or instructor's written permission.

MDIA 337: Media and the Underclass
3.00 Credits

Looks critically at how the media cover the underclass, the working poor, and poverty issues, and at the role of the media in making citizens aware of the poor. Same as POL 321.

MDIA 340: German Weimar Culture
3.00 Credits

Interdisciplinary study of German politics, society, and culture during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Expressionism in the arts, literature, and film; New Objectivity; Cabaret; Epic Theater; and Bauhaus will be considered in the context of Germany's failed experiment in democracy. Same as GER 240.

MDIA 344: Introduction to Cinema Studies
3.00 Credits

Introduces students to a variety of issues and methods in cinema studies, including questions of film form and style (narrative, editing, sound, framing, mise-en-scene, etc.), and questions in film history and theory (apparatus, institution, authorship, self-reflexivity, genre, the star system, etc.). Considers both Hollywood and alternative film traditions. Same as ENG 344. Required for majors in the critical studies track.

MDIA 348: Moving Pictures: Screen Melodramas
3.00 Credits

Explores the broad range of sentimental techniques used in melodramatic screen representation, focusing on affective and spectacular strategies of film and TV drama, and, in particular, narratives in which moral judgment results in redemption, salvation, or punishment. Critical approaches are drawn from classical literary theory, psychoanalytic and classical film theory. Hollywood's "women's weepie," male melodrama, documentary melodrama, civic melodrama, Bollywood spectacle, sentimental modes of melodrama, and music and melodrama are among topics explored. Films by D.W. Griffith, G.W. Pabst, King Vidor, Vincente Minelli, Douglas Sirk, R.W. Fassbinder, Pedro Almodóvar, Wong Kar-Wai and others.

MDIA 352: Museum Studies
3.00 Credits

This course focuses on museum display as a form of multi-dimensional, interactive media. Readings and field trips will address the interaction of museum visitors, collections, and public space, and the class will draw upon the wealth of museum resources in the Washington area.

MDIA 353: Television and American Culture
3.00 Credits

This course introduces students to a variety of issues and methods in radio and television studies, including questions of form, content, and style (narrative, editing, sound, story arcs, genre, e.g.), as well as history and theory. Readings and discussions will address such issues as gender and domestic reception, flow and segmentation, liveness, and articulations of local and global media cultures.

MDIA 360: Popular Culture
3.00 Credits

This course will explore the relationships between popular culture forms and the social contexts in which they originate. Readings and discussions will address the establishment of cultural hierarchies; the industrialization of cultural production; changing patterns of work, leisure, and consumption; the role of race, gender, and class within popular culture; as well as the rise of mass and niche markets.

MDIA 380: Video Production: The Short Subject
3.00 Credits

This course combines production and critical analysis. Students analyze award-winning short films and videos while developing the skills to create their own. The hands-on component covers the pre-production process for a short narrative video, -- including visualization, script-writing, storyboarding and budget development, -- so that students have a ready-to-shoot plan by the end of the course.

MDIA 381: Photography in the Digital Age
3.00 Credits

This course introduces students to the transition from photo-chemical to digital photography. Students will study the development of photography in the 19th and 20th centuries as an instrument of communication, persuasion, and aesthetic expression. Topics for discussion will include the work of prominent photographers, the uses of photography, and the questions posed by digitization.

MDIA 384: Video Art
3.00 Credits

An introduction to creation of video for the world wide web, focusing on conecptualization and aesthetics. Abobe Premiere software is the primary tool. Same as ART 384.

MDIA 389: American Literature and Culture since 1945
3.00 Credits

Explores how American literature has charted and shaped American cultural change since the end of World War II. Readings focus on the culture of the 1950s, the Vietnam era, and/or the "postmodern" period. Special attention is given to the role of media technologies--television, film, recorded sound, and digital media--in the transformation of American society.

MDIA 390: Visual Culture Studies
3.00 Credits

What is "visual culture"? How does such a conception relate to the study of media and communication more generally? What are the recent intellectual contexts, debates, and conversations that have defined this field of study? This course addresses questions such as these through a wide range of approaches to the creation and interpretation of visual experience. It considers the many ways that paintings, photographs, films, fashions, and everyday material and technological objects both shape and are shaped by the concepts, values, and meanings that constitute cultural life in contemporary urban societies.

MDIA 394: Signs and Symbols in American Life
3.00 Credits

This introduction to semiotics focuses on the role that images, signs, and metaphors play in the everyday life of contemporary America. The notion of "text" is extended from an exclusively verbal reference to one that includes the imagery of sound, sight, and movement, and to the encoding of perceptual phenomena in underlying systems that organize our experience and influence our behavior.

MDIA 401: Media Rhetoric and Aesthetics
4.00 Credits

Builds upon the aesthetic considerations and rhetorical strategies explored in previous core courses, with particular reference to visual communication. The lecture section emphasizes the conventions of practical aesthetics employed by professionals in mass media. In the lab section, students apply these critical principles by learning to manipulate photographs and other visual images, and to compose their own images using Adobe Photoshop software. Prerequisite MDIA 201 or HSCT 102.

MDIA 402: Media Composition
3.00 Credits

Students continue to apply critical principles learned in MDIA 401 and other core courses as they develop advanced skills in sound and video composition and produce their own sound and moving image sequences using Final Cut Pro. Later, students do a collaborative project in an atmosphere that simulates professional field and studio production. Required for majors in the production track. Prerequisite: MDIA 401.

MDIA 403: Advanced Video Production
3.00 Credits

Allows qualified students to work as a team, under close supervision of the instructor, to produce a high-quality short video. Prerequisite: MDIA 402.

MDIA 406: Special Projects in Media Production
3.00 Credits

no description available

MDIA 412: Special Projects in Media Production
3.00 Credits

In this course students with some experience in media video production have the opportunity to undertake their own advanced video projects under faculty supervision. The course may focus, for example, on the production of short, social-issue documentaries, or it may ask students to address social issues by consulting for or educating off-campus "clients." Prerequisite: MDIA 402 or equivalent experience.

MDIA 420: Introduction to Sound Production and Design
3.00 Credits

Introduces students to audio recording, mixing, and mastering skills, as well as creative applications of these techniques on campus, in the workplace, and at home. Frames audio recording fundamentals in relation to the history of recording and recording technologies; recording personnel and duties; legal aspects of sound production; and the role of the creative process in the world of constantly emerging technologies. Prerequisites: MDIA 401, MDIA 385, ART 383 OR ART 384.

MDIA 450: Film Narrative: The Coen Brothers
3.00 Credits

The Coen Brothers' body of film work is known for its quirky, often stylized, sometimes violent depiction of American life. This course explores the development of the Coen Brothers' original filmmaking style and themes. Same as ENG 450.

MDIA 451: Film Narrative: Hitchcock
3.00 Credits

Students view and discuss works from the entire range of Alfred Hitchcock's career. Emphasis on narrative forms, themes and motifs, technical devices. Attention to technical film vocabulary, narratology, and critical approaches to film. Same as ENG 451.

MDIA 452: Film Narrative: Stanley Kubrick
3.00 Credits

Emphasizes the concepts and vocabulary of contemporary film studies. Examines the works of Kubrick, director of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lolita, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and other films. Same as ENG 452.

MDIA 453: American Film Comedy
3.00 Credits

Examines American movie comedies from the silent era to 1965, asking questions about genre (what is comedy?) and context (what do comedies have to tell us about American culture and its history?). Particular emphasis is given to silent film slapstick, the sophisticated "screwball" comedy of the 1930s, and the varieties of comedy during the 1950s and early 1960s.

MDIA 454: American Film Comedy II
3.00 Credits

Continuation of MDIA 453 (may be taken separately).

MDIA 456: Science Fiction Media
3.00 Credits

This course explores science fiction as a genre. Readings and discussions will focus on the characteristics shared by science fiction texts of many kinds, while considering how the specific qualities of different media become engaged with the thematic and narrative structures of different science fictions. Mandatory screenings will be arranged for several evenings during the semester.

MDIA 457: Media Audiences: Reading & Reception
3.00 Credits

This course introduces student to theories of reception and to the methodological problems of studying audience response. Topics for discussion will include ethnographic approaches and histories of reading, fans and subcultures, as well as the cultural specificity of reception.

MDIA 458: Religion and Media
3.00 Credits

Examines ways in which media have addressed questions of religious practice and belief. Same as ENG 458.

MDIA 459: The Documentary
3.00 Credits

Designed to illuminate practical and theoretical issues surrounding documentary representation, especially documentary cinema. Considers a variety of visual and written documentary texts. Same as ENG 459.

MDIA 460: Film and History
3.00 Credits

Introduces students to basic concepts in film studies, historiography, and the relationship between these two modes of representation. Considers how filmmakers and historians have grappled with the past in their respective representations of significant historical episodes.Same as ENG 460.

MDIA 461: New American Film Directors
3.00 Credits

Examines current directions in American narrative cinema, its primary artists and its motivations, while seeking an evaluative process suitable to these films. Other modes of visual expression (music video, advertising, television, video art) are explored as appropriate. Some familiarity with film theory is advisable. Same as ENG 454.

MDIA 464: Topics in Television Studies
3.00 Credits

This course focuses on the history of television genres in American culture. It involves an examination of the narrative and generic conventions situation comedies, dramas, police-procedurals, game shows, and "reality TV," as well as a consideration of the social and cultural meanings of these programs in the contexts of their broadcast.

MDIA 471: Food and Media
3.00 Credits

This course examines how media have shaped the ways we think about food and how food itself can serve as a medium for cultural communication. In addition to studying American cookbooks, magazines, television (the TV dinner? The Food Network?), and other historical materials, students will analyze and practice forms of contemporary food writing. Attendance at several evening film screenings and one field trip will be mandatory.

MDIA 499: Senior Seminar: Topics in Media Studies
3.00 Credits

Formerly MDIA 501. Focuses on a key issue in media studies, chosen by the instructor. The course asks students to read intensively, to participate in discussions of the readings, and to complete independent research papers on related topics. For senior Media Studies majors only. Offered in the fall semester. Prerequisite MDIA 304.

MDIA 502: Communication Internship
3.00 Credits

Prerequisite: Permission of Program Director. Department Consent Required.

MDIA 503: Media Internship
3.00 Credits

Prerequisite: Permission of Program Director. Department Consent Required.

MDIA 511: Globalization
3.00 Credits

Same as POL 501.

MDIA 520: American Political Rhetoric
3.00 Credits

A study of speeches that have made history in America, examining them from the standpoint of rhetorical theory and attending to their historical context. Same as ENG 520.

MDIA 524: The Rhetoric of Advertising
3.00 Credits

Examines evolving strategies of persuasion in advertising, in the context of its social history and from a variety of critical perspectives. Same as ENG 524.

MDIA 530: The Rhetoric of Propaganda
3.00 Credits

Examines propaganda as a concept and practice distinct from other forms of political, religious, and cultural persuasion. Drawing on theoretical approaches from classical arts of rhetoric to 20th-century theories of mass communication, students seeks grounds for the critical understanding of propaganda and its political and cultural functions. Same as ENG 530.

MDIA 532: Visual Rhetoric
3.00 Credits

no description available

MDIA 595: Independent Study
3.00 Credits

Permission of instructor and Program Director required.

MDIA 596: Independent Study in Media
3.00 Credits

Permission of instructor and Program Director required.