ENGH 370: Introduction to Documentary

ENGH 370-001: Introduction to Documentary
(Fall 2015)

10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR

Planetary Hall 126

Section Information for Fall 2015

This introduction to the study of documentary considers form, style, and subject matter, as well as aesthetic, political, and ethical issues. We'll watch movies and TV in order to address some key concepts, including how documentaries raise particular ethical and interpretive questions, during production and consumption. We will also ask: What are documentaries’ relations to news, reality TV, or YouTube? How is documentary political? How do documentaries tell stories, for whom and about whom or what? How do they create or convey subjective and objective "truths"? 

Movies and TV shows may include Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, Approaching the Elephant, Closed Curtain, Cops, Going Clear, Happy Valley, Hoop Dreams, Iyanla: Fix My Life, The Jinx, National Gallery, The Newburgh Sting, The Oath, The Thin Blue Line, 30 for 30, 12 O'Clock Boys, and Vice. 

Fulfills Mason Core requirement in Arts. 

Tags:

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Considers fundamental concepts of documentary form, style, and subject matter, ethical considerations, and theories of documentary. Includes close analysis of a series of representative film and television texts. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Arts
Recommended Prerequisite: Satisfaction of University requirements in 100-level English and in Mason Core literature.
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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