The History of the Cinema

The course attends to what historian Antoine de Baecque calls “cinematographic forms of history”. From the 1890s until the present day, how has the moving image evolved as both the product and the author of technological inventions, historical events, national(ist) and international(ist) imaginaries, and aesthetic interventions? The course, structured around screenings and readings in historiography, philosophy, and film theory and criticism traces three main operations across a wide swath of experimental, narrative, and documentary filmmaking: periodization (instant, interval, decade, century); illumination (light and darkness, graphesis, markings); and inscription (word, voice).

3 credits

Course Code: HUM 327

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.