User:ProfAAKlein/course wizard/Course description

This course is a broad survey of the major films, genres, regulatory bodies and economic structures that defined cinema, both American and international, from its inception in the mid- 1890s through the onset of World War II. The course will address the social, industrial, and aesthetic history of these films, studying how they were made, sold, and exhibited in theaters. Students will begin the course by focusing on the technological and social changes that led to the development of the cinema and how later developments, such as the coming of sound and the development of various international studio systems, impacted the medium. While the major concern of this course is to understand these films in terms of their historical context, studies will also examine specific formal, narrative and rhetorical choices made by the individual films and filmmakers.

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