As part of a continued effort to update curriculum and offer students a wide variety of relevant class choices, Ouachita will offer a class in Film Studies as part of the Spring 2012 schedule. The class is being offered through the English department, but department chair, Dr. Doug Sonheim, has extended an invitation to all students who might be interested in the subject. Film Studies will count as one half-hour of elective credit. Sonheim will teach the class with help from several other faculty members in the English and communications departments. Sonheim said Dr. Jeff Root, dean of the School of Humanities, Dr. Dave Ozmun, professor of communications, and Dr. Mary Beth Long, assistant professor of English, contributed to the creation of the class.
Class meetings are planned for twice a month on Monday nights. Due to time constraints, students will likely watch the films outside of class; clips will be shown during class time to aid in discussion, which will be the main focus of the group time. It is being offered pass/fail and at the same credit hour as a practicum class so that students will be better able to accommodate the class in their busy schedules. The films studied will be those considered to have had a significant cultural impact.
In spite of fewer demands on time than a 3-hour credit class might have, Film Studies still offers unique advantages.
“It will help us know what to look for, what vocabulary to use,” Sonheim said. “With any discipline, you have to learn the vocabulary.”
And though the films shown will not be necessarily be “Christian” in their message, Sonheim said faith will play a role in class discussion.
“Naturally, we want to at some point say, ‘How does this deepen my faith and enrich my experience with God,’” Sonheim said.
Though this is the first time a film class has been offered for credit on Ouachita’s campus, there was a film society several years ago. Sponsored by the college society, the group gathered to show and discuss movies every semester. Administrators soon realized they were in violation of copyright laws which prohibit the public showing of films without proper licensing, the cost of which was not feasible for such a small group. However, there is an educational exemption to the law which would allow the films to be shown for educational purposes, and a credited class falls under these guidelines.
Sonheim also taught two separate 2-hour seminars on film at Ouachita, one called “Faith and Film” with Dr. Amy Sonheim, professor of English, the other “Film and War” with Dr. Doug Reed, chair of the political science department. These prior experiences with film studies have helped mold the goals and ideals of the class.
“Dr. Sonheim has worked hard to make the Film Studies class a reality. The student response through pre-registration is encouraging, and I feel confident this new endeavor will be a success,” Root said.
There are currently 22 students enrolled in the class for the spring semester. Eventually Sonheim hopes to see the class offered as a 3-hour course in the fine arts category of the CORE curriculum.
Picture courtesy of Sabine Schostag.
