Archive: Around Town

Aurora, New York—Wells College will introduce a new major, Film and Media Studies, into the College’s curriculum. The New York State Board of Education granted final approval to the program on Wednesday, September 14, clearing the way for Wells to add it as the 21st current major. While Film and Media Studies will be under the directions of Wells’ Humanities Division, the course offerings come from a variety of disciplines.

Students in the major will examine both print and visual media in order to understand the value of media to our society as well as its implications. “Without a critical eye on the media, you simply cannot be a citizen of the 21st century,” says Professor of English Linda Lohn, who designed the major. As a culture, she notes, “we are becoming more and more conscious of how media impact our lives,” often without understanding the purpose of technologies and media messages.

Because the Film and Media Studies program draws on offerings from sociology, art, English, economics, psychology and even religious studies and management, the major applies liberal arts principals in a broad-based approach to its subjects. “This is something where the sum is truly greater than the parts,” said Professor Lohn, noting that structuring these pre-existing courses as a major “adds an analytical focus to things that academically we take for granted.”

In addition to fundamental classes such as “Writing for the Mass Media” and “Reading Popular Film,” students who undertake the major will choose between a variety of courses such as “Studies in Literature and Film,” which addresses adaptations of work by authors such as Jane Austen and E.M. Forster; “Post-Colonial African Cinema,” which analyzes themes of tradition, identity and immigration through the work of contemporary African filmmakers; “Methods of Directing”; “Psycholinguistics”; and “Language and Gender.” An internship in Film and Media Studies is also required. Students who complete it will have a basis for pursuing careers or graduate studies in advertising, public relations, journalism, film criticism and screen or playwriting.

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