Course Description

History of Audiences
In this course, we will navigate the shifting histories of media audience as social construction and lived experience. For the first part of the semester, we will consider questions of film spectatorship from the earliest years of cinema to the coming of sound. Students will have the opportunity to research the history of early moviegoing in the Middlebury area. For the second part of the semester, we will examine the impact of digital media technologies on audience experience, interrogating theories of the active audience, fan engagement, and the Internet as authorship tool. 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. screen.