Film Studies Minor

Evanthia Speliotis, Ph.D., Division Chair
Alumni Hall 108, Phone 502.272.8232, espeliotis@bellarmine.edu

Jenny Barker, Ph.D., Film Studies Minor Advisor, jbarker@bellarmine.edu

The Film Studies minor is housed in the English Department.

Moving images are everywhere in our world. The omnipresence of screens and the prevalence of image-driven narratives in contemporary society have made media literacy a necessity. Bellarmine’s interdisciplinary Film Studies minor is designed to deepen student’s perception and discernment when it comes to visual storytelling and media literacy. Movies and television shows are some of the most important and powerful cultural forms of the last century, though they are often viewed uncritically. Film Studies courses will guide students away from the habits of mere consumption towards an attentive and analytic appreciation for the complex content and structure of filmmaking. The Film Studies minor situates films within an interdisciplinary context and approaches cinema as an artistic medium, a material practice, and a cultural artifact. 

Students in this minor will become scholars, critical consumers, and producers of a cultural and artistic medium that is socially significant and constantly evolving. The courses that form the core of the minor will provide students with a solid foundation in the history of American and international film, and the aesthetics, techniques, ideologies, and theories of the moving image. Elective classes will be offered on a variety of subjects, including genre, literature and film, documentary, screenwriting, animation, television history, movie soundtracks, and video art. Students will also be versed in the essentials of film criticism and learn to write effectively about movies and the media arts. 

Thus, the mission of the Film Studies minor is to increase student’s ability to think critically and communicate clearly about the relationship between images, ideas, narrative, and sound. Film Studies is not just about the “entertainment” industry; it is about critical thinking and insight, and an astute media literacy that will complement any major in the university. The minor is open to all students at Bellarmine and will serve them well as a rigorous practice that will also enrich the way they see and interpret the world. Film Studies students are also welcome to join the Bellarmine Film Association, which provides additional screenings and discussions each semester.

A minor in Films Studies supports Bellarmine’s liberal arts mission to “foster a thoughtful, informed consideration of serious ideas, values and issues—time-honored and contemporary—across a broad range of compelling concerns that are regional, national and international.” The minor also focuses on examining the ways in which the collaborative art of film can contribute to social justice, create “human solidarity across ethnic and social divisions,” and address both “an inner cosmos of ultimate questions and an external world laden with issues and needs of great social and ethical complexity.”