Media Arts and Culture
Overview
The Media Arts & Culture Department (MAC) integrates the study of film and media, digital and visual culture, and media production, working with students to engage an increasingly participatory media landscape. We produce graduates who are media literate, technologically savvy, critically engaged, and culturally and historically informed.
Our students research and write about a broad range of topics in the fields of film and media; they create a wide variety of audiovisual media, including fiction, documentary, and experimental work; they advance media making beyond the screen into installation, public, and mobile spaces; and they learn new tools for digital scholarship. Students produce senior comprehensives capstone work in one of two tracks: Critical Media or Media Production. All students, regardless of their project choice, are expected to push the boundaries of media scholarship, project form, and modes of audiovisual communication.
Note that it is not possible to complete the MAC major in less than three years due to course sequencing. Two gateway courses must be successfully completed before spring semester junior year in order for students to enroll in the Junior Seminar. If interested in a study abroad semester, this must occur in the fall of junior year. As comparable gateway courses are difficult to find away from Occidental, students intending to study abroad should complete gateway courses by the end of sophomore year.
Major Requirements
Minimum of 48 units.
COURSEWORK
Gateway Courses
Students are required to take at least two of the three 100-level gateway courses listed below:
| MAC 143 | Introduction to Visual and Critical Studies | 4 |
| MAC 145 | Introduction to Digital Media and Culture | 4 |
| MAC 146 | Aesthetics of the Cinema | 4 |
Four courses at the 200-level
Writing Requirement
| MAC 390 | Junior Seminar in Film Theory and Criticism | 4 units |
Senior Seminar
Students will satisfy this requirement by selecting the appropriate Senior Seminar sequence (Critical Media: MAC 490; Media Production: MAC 491 & MAC 492).
Additional track-specific requirements:
Critical Media Track: Critical Media comprehensives students must have taken at least two critical or historical media studies courses at the 200- or 300-level (in addition to MAC 390) before the end of junior year. The MAC 490 Senior Seminar in Critical Media is a year-long pro-seminar with 2 units conferred in the fall and 2 additional units in the spring.
Media Production Track: Media Production comprehensives students must complete MAC 240 and MAC 355 by the end of junior year. Students producing fictional comps work must also complete MAC 220 by the end of junior year. The MAC 491 Senior Seminar in Media Production is a 4-unit fall course. Students must also then enroll in the 2-unit MAC 492 Advanced Editing course in the spring of senior year to scaffold post-production on their comprehensives project.
Note that it is not possible to complete the MAC major in less than three years due to course sequencing. Two gateway courses must be successfully completed before spring semester junior year in order for students to enroll in the Junior Seminar. If interested in a study abroad semester, this must occur in the fall of junior year. As comparable gateway courses are difficult to find away from Occidental, students intending to study abroad should complete gateway courses by the end of sophomore year.
WRITING REQUIREMENT
All students majoring in the department must successfully complete the third-year writing requirement by completing the MAC 390 Junior Seminar with a grade of C+ or higher. Students not receiving this minimum grade will need to take an additional pre-approved critical media class in the senior year to complete the third-year writing requirement.
COMPREHENSIVE EXAMS
Media Arts & Culture comprehensives projects can take one of two forms: Critical Media or Media Production. Students pursuing the Critical Media track can produce projects that take a range of forms including research papers, websites, video essays, or other hybrid forms of research creation. Projects are often either a 25-page essay or a 7-10 minute video essay and 5-page video statement. Students pursuing the Media Production track produce 7-10 minute video works across a range of fictional, experimental, or documentary-based forms. Please note prerequisite coursework for each comprehensives track in the major requirements above.
HONORS
A student with an overall GPA of at least 3.5 overall and 3.6 in the major who has demonstrated excellence in departmental courses can submit a proposal for an honors project in the fall of senior year for completion in the spring of senior year. For further information, consult your faculty advisor on honors requirements and timelines.
MINOR
Media Arts & Culture is a contributing department to the
Interdisciplinary Writing Minor and the
Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Minor as ways to enhance their Media Arts & Culture studies.
EXCHANGE PROGRAM WITH ART CENTER
Occidental students may take courses in the Art Center at Night Program at the
Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. See College Catalog Section on Art Center Exchange. These classes can count towards general College units for graduation but cannot fulfill MAC major requirements without pre-approval of the faculty advisor.
Courses
Faculty
Regular Faculty
Broderick Fox, chair
Associate Professor, Media Arts and Culture
B.A., Harvard University; M.F.A., Ph.D., University of Southern California
Allison de Fren
Assistant Professor, Media Arts and Culture
B.A. Grinnell College; M.F.A., New York University; Ph.D., University of South Carolina
Ari Laskin
Assistant Professor, Media Arts and Culture
B.A., University of Victoria; M.A., York University; M.A., Ph.D., U.C. Irvine