What is cinema now? Does it reside in a theatrical experience, in an open-air screening, on a hand-held device, a home-theater setup, or in an art gallery? Which elements of cinema are modifiable and which are essential to it? If a screen is a banal display surface, or if we multitask as we watch images, is something of cinema lost? Does the screen protect us from the real world even as it projects aspects of it? What is the psychological function of audiovisual media in our time? Are online communities meaningful in the same way as a real audience in a movie theater?
Such questions, and more, about cinema and its functions, are posed by film historian and theorist Francesco Casetti. In this capstone course, to round out your education on cinema and media, we read a book by Casetti in its entirety, and parts of a second. Both books are available through the UW Library website. Class sessions will focus on group presentations, guided discussions, and reflection posts and papers.