Language of Media Arts

Image: Sirāt (Ólive Laxe, 2025)

VM641-02

Language of Media Arts
Dr. Martin Roberts
Film & Media Art MFA
Emerson College
Fall 2026

Mon + Wed 6-7:45 p.m. | Walker 202
Office hrs: Thurs 2-3 p.m. Office: Ansin
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Course description

What is the essence of the moving image, and why have humans found it so powerfully compelling for the past 125 years? What is the relationship between such images and reality, identity, art, and other media? What drives us to watch screen media, and how do we make sense of what we view? What is screen media’s function in society? The purpose of this course is to explore some of the theoretical concepts and contexts fundamental to the study of screen media as an expressive medium and as a subject of critical analysis and scholarly inquiry. We will explore ways of seeing screen media from a variety of perspectives, taking into consideration the specificity of forms and styles; screen media as an industry and as an art form; the relationship between entertainment and ideology; the globalization and digitalization of media; and the contribution of screen media to understandings of gender, race, sexuality, nationality, and humanity itself.

Learning outcomes

• Students will become familiar with key concepts in media/cultural studies and significant theoretical frameworks, and will gain an understanding of how to critically engage scholarly work to understand the main contributions and limitations therein.
• Students will learn to rigorously apply these concepts and frameworks to their own analyses of media, in so doing demonstrating their ability to apply theoretical information, to perform close readings of cultural texts, to conduct and rigorously apply reputable research, and to communicate ideas effectively in written, oral, and audiovisual presentation.
• Students will develop recognition of ways that media is imbricated with forms of difference, inequities, and power structures, and of media’s potential to effect change.

Course materials

All assigned readings and out-of-class viewings are available as downloadable PDFs or links to stream online content and are posted on Canvas in the designated weekly modules. Should you have difficulty accessing these or any other course materials, email me immediately so I can assist with troubleshooting, but leave yourself ample time for doing assignments in case technical issues arise.

United States law governs the use of copyrighted material. These laws prohibit reproduction of the material for purposes other than the intended instructional purposes of this course. Other uses, including commercial use and any further electronic distribution of the material, may constitute copyright infringement.

Be aware that our course material is geared towards adults so may when educationally warranted involve graphic depictions/discussions of sex, violence, and other potentially disturbing content. Please make sure that this isn’t a problem for you if you want to stay in this class. I am willing to work with you within reason to shape alternative assignments and it is always acceptable to opt out of or leave class provided you do so with minimal distraction to others; in this event, I ask that you check in with me to address any concerns.

Course texts

Shane Denson and Julia Leyda, eds. Post-Cinema: Theorizing 21st-Century Film. Sussex: REFRAME Books, 2015.

Steven Shaviro, The Rhythm Image: Music Videos and New Audiovisual Forms. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.

Holly Willis, Fast Forward: The Future(s) of the Cinematic Arts. New York and London: Wallflower Press, 2016.

Note on formats: A number of texts listed in the Bibliography are available as e-books and/or audiobooks. You are encouraged to make use not only of print media but also of these screen-based and audio formats.

Assignments & Evaluation

Prompts for all assignments will be distributed well in advance of due dates. Apart from weekly posts (to be submitted as text entries on Canvas), written assignments should be formatted in (rather than converted to) Microsoft Word and submitted by uploading in .doc/.docx format in the Assignments section of our Canvas site.

Sequence Analysis (2 x 15%)

• Opening, closing, or mid-sequence screening and analysis. Solo or joint
• A short written analysis of the film in question (3-4 pages double-spaced, 750-1000 words) is due by the Monday following the analysis
• Presenters should meet with me during office hour on Tuesday afternoon to discuss choice of film/TV sequence

Alternative Soundtrack Project (15%)

• Details will be provided

Analytical Essay, Video Essay, or Web Essay (25%)

• Analytical Essay: 8-10 pages, with bibliography
• Video Essay: ~10 minutes
• Web Essay: published online, equivalent of 6-8 pages, with embedded images, clips (help will be provided)

Discussion posts (15%)

• Minimum 10 posts in Discussion forums on Canvas required over the semester
• No fixed length but up to 250 words commenting either on reading or screening assignments for the week
• Due weekly before Tuesday class
• You may post late up to the end of the week in question. However, please note that you cannot post make-up comments after that week is over

Engagement (15%): includes punctuality, active participation in class discussion, individual conferences

Schedule

Assignments listed below should be completed in advance of the dates beside which they appear and are subject to change; be sure you’re referencing this living syllabus on Canvas as any updates will be incorporated here and are your responsibility to note, along with regularly monitoring Canvas Announcements and your school email account.

Week 1

W, Sept. 2

Introduction: Opening Sequence

Sensory Ethnography Lab (Harvard University)

Films: Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez, 2013)
Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, 2012)

Week 2

M, Sept. 7: NO CLASS: Labor Day

W, Sept. 9

Feminist Masquerades & Postmodernist Pastiche

• In-class: Inventing Anna, ep. 6
• Film: El Planeta

Week 3

The Movement-Image: Cars

M, Sept. 14

Films: Le Casse
Baby Driver
Taste of Cherry, Ten
One Battle After Another
Perfect Days

W, Sept. 16: Add/Drop Deadline

Sequence Analysis 1 (2-3 sequences per class)

Week 4

The Time Image: Transcendental Cinema

M, Sept. 21

• Cristina Quaranta, “A Cinema of Boredom: Heidegger, Cinematic Time and Spectatorship” (Film-Philosophy, 24.1 (2020): 1-21)

Films: L’Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962) Blow Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966)

W, Sept. 23

Sequence Analysis 2

Week 5

The Rhythm Image: Music Video

M, Sept. 28

• Steven Shaviro, “The Rhythm Image” (The Rhythm Image, ch. 1)

Music videos by Chemical Brothers, Lorde, Michel Gondry

W, Sept. 30

Sequence Analysis 3

Week 6

Chaos: Intensified Continuity

M, Oct. 5

• David Bordwell, “Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary American Film”
• Steven Shaviro, “Post-Continuity: An Introduction” (in Denson and Leyda, eds., Post-Cinema)

W, Oct. 7

Sequence Analysis 4

Week 7

M, Oct. 12: No class, Indigenous People’s Day

Sihouettes: Animation

Tu, Oct. 13

Screening: The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926). Live soundtrack by Dungen.

W, Oct. 14

Sequence Analysis 5

Week 8

Shadows and Light: Nocturnal Cinema

M, Oct. 19

MR, “Dangerous Liaisons: Film Noir, Jazz, and the French New Wave”

W, Oct. 21

Sequence Analysis 6

Week 9

Phantasmagorias: Spectral Cinema

M, Oct. 26

Films: Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas, 2016)
Retratos Fantasmas [Pictures of Ghosts] (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2023)
A Ghost Story (David Lowery, 2017)

W, Oct. 28

Sequence Analysis 7

Week 10

Earth, Water, Fire, Air: Elemental Cinema

M, Nov. 2

• Tiago de Luca, “Nebulous Cinema” (Studies in World Cinema 23 (2023): 242-64)

Films: The Clouds of Sils-Maria (Olivier Assayas, 2014)
Vapour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2015)

W, Nov. 4

Sequence Analysis 8

Week 11

Stray Dogs: Animals on Film

M, Nov. 09:

MR, “Entangled Lives: Uncanny Animals in Cosmopolitical Documentary”

Films: Stray, Space Dogs

T, Nov 10:

Sequence Analysis 9

W, Nov. 11: NO CLASS: Veterans’ Day

Week 12

You Only Look Once: Algorithmic Aesthetics

M, Nov. 16

MR, “Moving Targets: Object Detection and Algorithmic Aesthetics”

Film: Chien 51

W, Nov. 18

Sequence Analysis 10

F, Nov. 20: WP/WF deadline

Week 13

The Sense of an Ending: Doomscreening

M, Nov. 23

Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025)

W, Nov. 25: No class, Thanksgiving Break

Week 14

M, Nov. 30: Alt-Soundtrack Projects W, Dec. 2: Alt-Soundtracks Projects

Week 15

M, Dec. 7: Final Projects

W, Dec. 9: Final Projects

F, Dec. 11: Last Day of Classes

Policies and guidelines

All course and institutional policies and guidelines are listed on our Canvas homepage and are your responsibility to read, uphold, and avail yourself of in order to succeed in this course.