College Teaching

Sample Course Description

Introduction to Animation Studies (14 weeks, lecture with screening and discussion sections)

To animate is to bring to life, to instill movement into that which would otherwise be still. Animated films grant their viewers access to imaginary worlds, frequently populated by anthropomorphic animals, fantastical environments, and utopian societies. But animation takes many forms; this course offers a broad survey of the global history of animation by embracing the diversity of those forms and by encouraging students to draw connections between the techniques and materials employed by animators and the political, social, and cultural functions of animated texts. Students will be introduced to a wide variety of ways in which animation has historically been created, including works made with sand, paper, puppets, pixels, clay, cels, cloth, pinscreens, beads, garbage, and other unconventional materials. Along the way, students will familiarize themselves with key films, filmmakers, filmic technologies, and filmmaking traditions by studying animation from various eras, genres, industries, and countries. 

In-class discussions and course assignments will urge students to grapple with complex questions and issues in the field of animation studies. For example, during times of conflict, how might animated films function as weapons of war or acts of resistance? Are animators – as opposed to live-action filmmakers – uniquely positioned to tell certain kinds of stories (or convey certain deeper “truths”)? How can viewers gather meaning from experimental and/or avant-garde animation? And how might animated media serve as a productive site to address some of the key questions currently posed within, say, feminist media history, labor studies, or critical race theory? In addition to featuring numerous works from Japan and the United States, weekly screenings will incorporate animated shorts and feature films from many different regions, including Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Eswatini, France, Germany, India, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Palestine, Poland, Russia, and the UK.