Studying the Silver Screen

Film studies may finally earn feature status next fall as plans are being considered by the Visual and Environmental Studies (VES) department to create an undergraduate track for the study of film within its concentration. Currently, students studying cinema take classes across various departments without a formalized focus. Now, meetings are being held by an 11-member committee from VES to review this new proposal, which, if approved, will face the Educational Policy Committee, the Faculty Council and a full vote of the Faculty before being officially established. It behooves the Harvard bureaucracy to accept this proposal; a VES track would effectively centralize film courses and allow students greater ease in pursuing an interest in the field.

The idea of a centralized study of film at Harvard has been floated as early as the 1970s, when other colleges instituted similar programs, but it has only recently made significant headway. The arrival this fall of Assistant Professor J.D. Connor ’92 and his two film theory courses, English 164, “Literature and Visuality in America” and VES 195, “Contemporary Hollywood Cinema” strengthen the case for a concentration track. Since 2000, students have been able to obtain a brochure that lists the numerous film courses—spread across various departments—offered at Harvard. The sheer number and diversity of courses that are present in this guide to “Film Studies at Harvard” demonstrate the breadth that would be available for students in a formalized program. If the track were approved, film courses that are not listed under VES in which students currently enroll as electives would garner concentration credit, giving students freedom to pursue academic interests more easily.

Taking advantage of this focus on cinema, the Harvard libraries should take this opportunity to expand their movie collections for all undergraduate students of film. Currently, many films are only offered in a format—35 milimeter for example—that can only be played on-site with the proper, expensive equipment. Copies of films in formats such as VHS and DVD would allow students more viewing freedom. A track within VES would help highlight that films are not just diversions for students when they are not poring over Joyce and Pinsky but are objects of study themselves.

Film is a medium that has great cultural significance and the creation of a film studies track will give this interest its proper place in the Harvard system. This emphasis should also foster innovative courses with the addition of new professors in the field. Coupling the creation of this track with additional library resources devoted to film, all undergraduates can witness what movies have to offer.