Critical Videogame Studies
Course Code
MADD 12320 10
Cross Listed Course Code(s)
SIGN 26038, CMST 27916, ENGL 12320, GNSE 22320
Course Description
Since the 1960s, games have blossomed into the world’s most profitable artistic and cultural form.
This course attends to a broad range of video games in different genres, including Passage, Dys4ia, Unpacking, Slay the Princess, Undertale, Outer Wilds, and more.
Readings by theorists including Patrick Jagoda, Bo Ruberg, Mary Flanagan, and Mark J.P. Wolf will help us think about the field of videogame studies. In addition to weekly readings, students will create a video essay across the quarter, divided into smaller assignments to provide time for workshopping and fine-tuning.
The end product, a video essay of about 5 minutes, will serve as their final project. Students will not only learn about games as a medium but also exercise their ability to create a critical, detail-focused analysis.
Course Criteria
Media Arts and Design - can fullfill Theory or Elective requirement, also fulfills Elective requirements/major requirements for English, Cinema and Media Studies, Gender Studies.
This course is primarily comprised of undergraduate students. A select number of places are reserved for advanced high school students.
The cost of this course for pre-college students is $4,980
Instructor(s)
Riss Lawrence, Ashlyn Sparrow