Cultural history of the most important ethnic film makers in the American cinema from the 1920's to the present, with emphasis on stories and styles of the films, as well as on the underlying economic and social contexts.
Athena Title
American Directors of Color
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students should be able to provide an overview of the careers of major and emerging American directors of color, including recurring narrative themes and stylistic signatures in their work and synthesize these ideas in a class presentation on a specific director.
By the end of the class, students should be able to indicate the impact of twentieth-century social movements and contemporary issues on the work of filmmakers of color, including their relevance to characterization, storytelling, and style.
By the end of the class, students should be able to observe elements of film style (editing, framing/composition, camera movement, mise-en-scène, and sound design); describe them using accurate, precise film terms; and indicate how they create meaning and emotionally move audiences in a specific scene and/or a film as a whole.
By the end of the class, students should be able to evaluate the relationship of directors of color’s work to mainstream film style and narrative, considering the possibilities and limitations of developing unconventional approaches versus adapting established genre formulas for addressing the experiences of individuals and communities of color.
By the end of the class, students should be able to discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by different modes of production (mainstream vs. independent film) for directors of color.
Topical Outline
I. Film Analysis Basics
II. Racial Bias Onscreen: Technology and Representation
III. Classical Hollywood and its Alternatives
IV. Hollywood Responds to the Civil Rights Movement
V. The LA Rebellion Filmmakers
VI. The Chicano Movement on Film
VII. Asian American Media from Activism to Indie Film
VIII. Black Independent Cinema in the 1990s
IX. Robert Rodríguez: Micro-Budget Filmmaking to Blockbusters
X. Filmmakers of Color in New Queer Cinema
XI. Indigenous Activism and Filmmaking
XII. Rewriting the “Model Minority Myth” in the Teen Movie
XIII. The Tyler Perry Phenomenon
XIV. Blockbuster Sci-Fi and Afrofuturism
XV. Post-Apocalyptic, Post-Colonial – The Indigenous Zombie Film
XVI. South Asian Creatives Reimagine the Romantic Comedy
General Education Core
CORE IV: Humanities and the Arts
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
