When a motion picture is nominated for 13 Academy Awards, and becomes (up to that point) the first film in Academy history to have every eligible category nominated, including the fact that each member of the cast received an acting nomination, it clearly demonstrates that more than the mere words of “action,” “cut,” and “that’s a take,” by director Mike Nichols were required to incorporate this film’s narrative with Edward Albee’s play into a final edited version of the 1966 motion picture, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The English Department at ETSU offers a Film Studies Minor for students seeking an education “about film in an interdisciplinary context.”
According to the ETSU 2005-2006 undergraduate catalog, “the goals of this program are to encourage serious consideration of film as an art form; to explore film as a medium of communication; and to examine the power of film in shaping attitudes, values, and our understanding of society and the world.”
Professor Mary G. Hurd, a graduate of ETSU, is the director of the university’s Film Studies program. Students will be introduced to such motion picture terms as auteur director, film noir, film narrative and mise-en-scene, plus have the opportunity to view films of great significance and come to understand why Citizen Kane, filmed in glorious black and white, is the epitome of motion pictures.
Foreign films, documentaries and silent movies are just a small part of the 21 credit hours needed to complete this minor.
Students should be aware that this interdisciplinary minor requires more than just sitting in a dark classroom and watching a motion picture. Several of the required courses in the Film Studies Minor program are writing intensive.
“Courses are designed to provide students with knowledge of the techniques of the filmmaking process, the historical development of film as an institution, film theory, methods of critical analysis, and an awareness of the relationship of film to broader issues within various disciplines,” the catalog said.
Students will be required to complete 12 credit hours of core subjects, and then may elect nine other credit hours of elective courses to complete their minor course of study.
Come to understand and appreciate why Albee’s play is a dark and brooding comedy that alludes to the British writer Virginia Woolf.
According to the Norton Anthology, “Woolf pioneered the stream of consciousness literary style while examining the psychological and emotional motives of her characters,” and Nichols’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, is “psychologically and emotionally motivated” from its opening credits to two faces filmed in a “tight point-of-view” to the film’s disturbing end. This is only one of the many aspects that can be explored in great detail while pursuing a minor in Film Studies.
Additional information is available at www.etsu.edu/English.

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