The College of Arts and Sciences welcomes 16 new faculty members this fall. Spanning the range of humanities, social sciences and natural sciences disciplines, our new faculty bring deep expertise and fresh perspectives that will enhance our abiding commitment to teaching, research and service.
In her latest book, Only at Comic-Con: Hollywood, Fans, and the Limits of Exclusivity, Erin Hanna discusses the San Diego Comic-Con and how it became a Hollywood destination, how the industry’s presence at Comic-Con shapes our ideas about what it means to be a fan, and what this event tells us about the relationship between media industries and their fans, past and present. Only at Comic-Con examines the connection between exclusivity and the proliferation of media industry promotion at the longest-running comic convention in North America.
"My home office is being used by my partner, so I’ve carved out space in our guest room and Frankenstein’d it into a makeshift studio. Keep in mind — even though I am a Cinema Studies Professor — I have ZERO production experience! I’ve never made anything, ever. I’m a historian! If you need to know the history of the VCR, I’m your guy! But making a video? Um, what?
But I knew I wanted to do something interesting, engaging, and memorable for our students. For many of them, this is their last term! I just can’t have them go out without at least trying to do something fun. Besides, anyone who’s ever had my classes knows I’m just not going to do anything if it isn’t in the spirit of positivity, optimism, and enthusiasm. That’s just who I am, even now.
Masami Kawai is a Los Angeles-born filmmaker whose work integrates issues of race, class, gender, and what it means to be an immigrant across multiple modes of filmmaking.
Story by Alex Tamura, Class of '20
Hi, everyone! My name is Alex Tamura, and I am currently a junior at the University of Oregon pursuing a double major in Cinema Studies and Journalism: Media Studies. I will be graduating in the spring of 2020. I decided to major in Cinema Studies because, in high school, I spent so much time binge-watching TV shows on Netflix—so much so that my family thought something was wrong with me. Soon enough, I became a walking encyclopedia of TV trivia. When it came time to choose what I wanted to study in college, I figured that I should turn my hobby into my career. I was not so much interested in the production side of film and television, rather I was fascinated with the writing and history aspects. I love that the Cinema Studies major at the UO is a mix of film history, film industry, and film production—a really well-rounded curriculum that is unlike most other film programs at other universities. I am able to learn about the industry and gain production experience at the same time.
Zhao will engage in a two-week university residency during spring term 2018 and will be involved in a variety of campus activities, including teaching workshops and mentoring students in the CINE 408 “Art of Directing” course, as well as participating in public conversations and hosting film screenings.
Samantha Stendal graduated with a degree in Cinema Studies and a multimedia minor from the University of Oregon in 2015. After graduation, Stendal put her Cinema Studies degree to work at Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) in Burbank, California, where she is working as a layout production assistant on the upcoming animated film, Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (2018). A filmmaker-driven animation studio, WDAS has created everything from 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Lion King, Zootopia, Moana, and 2013's Academy Award®-winning Frozen – the biggest animated film of all time.
Apply Now for Spring Term! Taught by Cinema Studies Instructor Masami Kawai, this spring term course features lectures by Chloé Zhao, director of The Rider (2017) and Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015).
“There is such incredible work happening in cinema and media studies all over campus, and I love that as a department, Cinema Studies gets to become a real hub of that kind of cultural production and intellectual work.”
–Erin Hanna, Assistant Professor, Department of Cinema Studies
