The Course:
FNA340: Explorations in the Fine Arts (Film)

Millions of Americans flock to the movies during the summer months. Students enrolled in Dr. Heather McMahon’s FNA340: Exploration in the Fine Arts (Film) course are among those spending hours in a darkened theatre, but they aren’t concentrating on many blockbusters.

Meeting for three weeks this summer in the College’s Lawson Auditorium, they are instead screening and discussing classics like “Citizen Kane,” “On the Waterfront” and “North by Northwest.”

“Most of these students have never seen these films,” said McMahon, the College’s assistant professor of theatre. “I think they are usually surprised by how much they enjoy them.”

McMahon begins the general education course with discussion about what the course is – a scholarly approach to film analysis, complete with reading and writing assignments and lessons on the history of film, the technological language of film and the beliefs behind film-reception theory (how spectators interpret the images of a movie based on experiences, biases and culture).

And on that first day, McMahon dims the lights for “Casablanca.”

“It’s such a classic American film and such a great example of many concepts we discuss during the semester, but it’s also just fun to watch since it has everything – love, action, adventure,” she said. “I also think that ‘Casablanca’ is such a part of the American culture that students need to see it – they need to know where lines like ‘Play it again, Sam’ and ‘Here’s lookin’ at you, kid’ come from!”

Throughout the course, students screen approximately 10 films. McMahon selects the movies based on the analysis skills discussed that day.

“For instance, when talking about photography, ‘Citizen Kane’ is a stellar example of camera angles and lighting,” she explained. “When we get to camera movement, ‘Moulin Rouge’ provides excellent examples of swish pans and crane shots.”

She uses a Marlon Brando classic, “On the Waterfront,” to talk about acting; and “Singin’ in the Rain” to demonstrate good storytelling. “Adaptation,” a more modern film starring Meryl Streep and Nicholas Cage, introduces the discussion on screenwriting. McMahon shows students the 1993 critically acclaimed “The Piano” to set the stage for a discussion on gender and film.

“I try to come up with a list of movies that will provide some variety – both in terms of time period and in terms of style and genre,” she said. “Hopefully, there is at least one movie during the course that students will enjoy, but, of course, the point of the class is to hone their film criticism skills, which they can do even if they don’t enjoy the movie.”

And in some cases, because of their newly acquired skills, they simply can’t enjoy a movie. McMahon has already heard from students who say she’s ruined movie-viewing for them because they can’t stop analyzing the photography, composition, camera movement, editing, sound and acting of a film.

“I think that this always happens when you learn about any art form,” she said. “At first, you do go through a phase of lamenting the fact that you can no longer turn your brain off. In fact, I always tell students in this course that they will probably realize that some of the movies they love aren’t really good movies, but the beauty of these new analysis skills is that you can now appreciate movies that you wouldn’t have appreciated before. And you can start to understand what an artist goes through to create a masterpiece like ‘Citizen Kane.’”

McMahon believes her students will also begin to look at other “moving pictures” more critically, as well.

“We are constantly bombarded with imagery today. Everywhere we turn, we see something. I think that this class offers students a way to interpret what they see,” she said. “If you know that a low angle shot makes the subject look imposing and powerful, you might start to look differently at commercials, music videos and political ads.

“More and more, I think that it is imperative that we give our students the skills they need to interpret the visual clutter around them, rather than passively letting those images affect us.”