FMST 254 Documentary: Ethics, Aesthetics, Action

3 credits 45.0 hours
200 level undergraduate course

The ability of the cinema to convey ideas and to change minds reaches its apex with the documentary, which historically has worked both to draw together disparate cultures and to divide along partisan factions. We will explore several approaches that documentary filmmakers have taken in representing reality, weighing the ethics, aesthetics, and after effects of each. In so doing, we will consider how documentary operates historically, as a cultural document; artistically, as a creative work; and ideologically, as a sociopolitical act. Films to be discussed include Grey Gardens, Koyaanisqatsi, Nanook of the North, Paris Is Burning, Roger & Me, Sherman’s March, Stories We Tell, and The Thin Blue Line.

Prerequisites COMP*102, COMP*102E, COMP*112, or COMP*112H

This course is not repeatable for credit.
This course can fulfill a liberal arts elective or free elective requirement.

This course is equated with the following courses: CMMC*351