FS 444I - The History and Aesthetics of Stereoscopic Cinema

Prerequisite, DCFMA major. This course will explore the history and aesthetics of stereoscopic 3-D cinema through readings, screenings, lectures, classroom discussions and written assignments. Though stereoscopic imagery can be found in a variety of media, including photography, comic books, theme parks and video games, this course engages specifically with stereoscopic cinema within the tradition of the Hollywood narrative feature film. The course follows a largely chronological trajectory from the pre-cinema era before 1895 to the digital present, tracing the technological, industrial and aesthetic issues that have shaped the production, exhibition and reception of stereoscopic cinema at various points along the way. In many ways, the history of stereoscopic cinema represents a parallel, shadow history to mainstream cinema, one that can help throw the embedded assumptions and naturalized practices of monocular film culture into relief, as it were. (Offered as needed.) 3 credits