Undergraduate - Spring - 2025
FAMST 187TS – THE SELFIE
Details
Spring - 2025
187TS
4
Film studies 46 or upper-division standing, and consent of instructor.
Description
The digital “selfie” is ubiquitous. But what constitutes the lure of reproducing one’s image through technical media in the first place? This course examines histories and theories of self-imaging media, tracing how widespread concepts of selfhood have shifted over time alongside––and in relation to––the development of specific media technologies: from paintings to daguerreotypes, snapshots, cinema, video, and digital media. By analyzing broad tends and “case studies” of specific artists, filmmakers, and theorists; we will ultimately consider the historical context, and develop the conceptual skills, needed to survey and scrutinize ethical problems and potentials posed by selfies in the present.