<p>(Formerly numbered 109.) Seminar, two hours; film laboratory, one hour. Comparative analysis of film narratives and specific film techniques used to suggest subjective experiences of mental illness/health across range of cultural contexts and historical periods. Film selection includes range of film styles and genres, from commercial Hollywood productions to small scale art-house works and television series. Analysis of portrayal of conditions such as autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and schizophrenia, with consideration of what they reveal about what and who count and do not count as healthy, sane, or normal selves, minds, and behaviors. Students learn to produce five- to eight-minute film on relevant topic in film laboratory. P/NP or letter grading.</p>

Comparative Literature

College of Letters and Science

COM LIT 184 - Moving Images: Mental Health on Film

Moving Images: Mental Health on Film

Students will develop health humanities’ skills to consider medical, therapeutic, humanistic and critical perspectives on mental health conditions, such as Schizophrenia, PTSD, Alzheimer’s, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Mood Disorders

Students will explore the expressive function of film techniques across a range of individual films, film genres, and film traditions, giving pride of place to the subjective experiences of individuals living with mental illness.  

Students will learn precise and accurate film terminology with which to analyze film techniques, such as camera placement and movement, lighting, dialogue, film sound, and the use of diegetic and non-diegetic music.  They will also gain a basic appreciation of film editing.  

Students will reflect on how filmic constructions, fictitious or otherwise, may be informed by and/or impact public perceptions of mental health conditions.

Students will practice critiquing each other’s work, and accepting constructive evaluation, in peer-review sessions of their training film and final film.  

Students will work in teams to produce a short fictional film addressing an aspect of a mental health condition. In the process they will gain first-hand experience in film production in a series of scaffolded exercises in the Film Lab, including instruction and practice in (1) pre-production: treatment, script, shot lists, and story boards; (2) production: location scouting, set design, costume creation, lighting, acting, directing; (3) post-production: editing and presenting their film to their peers for peer review.  

Students will develop research skills in Health Humanities to investigate a mental health topic for their final written paper on a filmic approach to an aspect of a specific mental health condition. 

Students will undertake a multifaceted comparative study of a range of film narratives portraying diverse mental health issues in a variety of social, cultural, and historical contexts.  

General Catalog

Moving Images: Mental Health on Film

COM LIT 184

4 units