Many bright-eyed, bushy-tailed prefrosh come to campus hoping to get a flavor of their prospective majors. Increasingly, many of them come with questions about the Film Studies Major, an extremely popular subject of study on campus. To help you get acquainted with this sometimes enigmatic major, we asked a few of our fine-feathered Film Studies Major friends to wax poetic about cinema, Joss Whedon, and lying to your parents.
The Argus: What drew you to Film Studies at the University?
Chi Le ’13: I find watching old, black and white films on a big screen a magical experience. I grew up watching “Cinema Paradiso,” so I guess that’s why I’m such a dreamy kid. I don’t know if I’ll do film as a career. My parents don’t even know that I’m majoring in film (they know that I’m doing econ, which is half the truth anyway). All I know now is that I can watch a lot of Hitchcock films during school time without feeling guilty about it.
A: What’s the most difficult part of the major?
CL: I’ve considered dropping the film major about 10 times this semester because I’m under this constant anxiety that I’m not good enough to do film. Whenever in doubt, I watch a movie, or go talk to Jeanine [Basinger] about film classes to remind myself of the joy of learning about film. I still think that I’ll fail horribly as a film major and will never make it as a filmmaker, but I enjoy what I’m doing now and I think that’s all that counts.
A: What’s the best part about being a Film Studies Major?
Max Cecil ’12: After taking so many film classes, I can’t go to the movies the same way ever again, and I’m really thankful for that. Although some people might say that studying cinema takes away the magic of filmmaking, I think it’s the complete opposite: now that I’ve become hyper attentive when I watch movies, I notice more and more how amazing some films can be. For example there’s this shot from this French film called “Murmur of the Heart” where the camera follows a young boy carrying his backpack to school, and there’s this slight reflection on the buckle of his backpack that catches your eye, keeping you fixated on the boy and his bag – it’s just beautiful. Some of my friends think it’s crazy, but I dream about that belt buckle.
A: What drew you to Film Studies at the University?
Augustus Spelman ’11: Joss Whedon. Honestly, I was such a big fan and I’d heard him talk so enthusiastically about the program on DVD commentaries and stuff, so I was just like, “Awesome, that’s for me.”
A: If your life at Wesleyan was made into a movie, who would direct it?
Jenna Robbins ’13: Me, of course. Clearly I’m headed for big things. And I’m in talks with Natalie Portman to play me.
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