Film and Media Studies

Program Chair

Associate Professor Smith

Lafayette College’s new interdisciplinary program in Film and Media Studies (FAMS) explores the moving image and digital media in art, culture, and society. FAMS combines rigorous theoretical study with hands-on practice, all within a rich liberal arts context. The FAMS major is effective beginning Fall 2010, with the new incoming class of 2014; the FAMS minor is available starting with the class of 2012.

FAMS emphasizes connections between cinema, visual media, electronic arts, social technologies, and cultural contexts. Since we live in an increasingly media-driven world, it is essential that students be able to analyze diverse visual and textual forms while honing their skills as effective communicators across an array of media platforms. The FAMS program situates the moving image within broader historical and social landscapes, examining the production, circulation, and cultural impact of different media on a global scale. Students focus on the moving image as an art form as well as a social medium, investigating the complexities of its history and employing it as a creative force and research tool.

Lafayette’s FAMS program works actively to nurture relationships with established film and media artists, integrating career and advanced-study opportunities for students within local, regional, national, and international centers of film and media activity-connecting what goes on in the classroom to the larger world.

Film and Media Studies Courses