IELP4302 - American Film

Course Description

This course is designed to raise students’ awareness of how film both reflects and shapes culture, ranging from social concepts to idiomatic expressions. It will also introduce ways to discuss film (e.g. style, terminology) and apply rhetorical analysis for the film review genre. 

Students in this course will review the historical context of the featured films to help inform and frame student-driven discussions and scene analyses. Students will also review key vocabulary to discuss ‘film language’ and genre. Select scenes from the featured films will be reenacted to develop student pronunciation, inflection, and non-verbal speech through dialogue practice. Films will also highlight ‘catch phrases’ that have become embedded in common idiomatic speech and their use will be demonstrated in different contexts.  Students will also analyze corresponding film reviews for genre-specific language. Students will maintain a journal to document their own film reflections.

This course is good for students who wish to learn more about U.S. history and cinema, want to develop their pronunciation and who are interested in learning different non-academic genres of writing and communication.