An Interdepartmental Major and Minor

The Cinema and Media Studies Program (CAMS) empowers students to explore the ways that modern audiovisual media have both shaped and been shaped by the cultures from which they emerged. With an emphasis on the aesthetic, political, and social impact of cinema, photography, television and digital media, our students pursue an interdisciplinary course of study to investigate the most pressing issues in contemporary media cultures: surveillance, misinformation and political control; the emergence and operation of global media industries; and the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and class with the production and consumption of modern media. To this end, the CAMS courses focus on the global workings of media cultures and industries, from Hollywood and Silicon Valley, to Asia, Africa and the Global South. As an interdepartmental program, CAMS blends comparative media studies with creative opportunities in photography, video production, digital imaging, and screenwriting. This innovative feature of the program pedagogically bridges the theory-praxis divide, bringing the Wellesley method into the 21st century.