A new interdisciplinary program in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.
New majors may declare now, to begin their course of study in Fall 2016.
What is MCA?
The major in Media, Culture & the Arts (MCA) combines hands-on media production experiences with
the cultural and historical study, and critical analysis of media practice. Students engage with histories and
theories of media production informed by philosophical, artistic, and technological traditions, while learning
to produce creative works that interrogate these traditions. This rigorous major requires 13 courses.
Who are the faculty of MCA?
MCA faculty are drawn from the existing five V&PA programs—Art History, Music, Screen Studies, Studio
Art, and Theatre Arts—as well as other related programs outside V&PA. In many cases, their professional
work actively spans the traditional division between studies and production/making. MCA faculty view
history/theory as not exclusively “in service to” artistic practice, nor do they view artistic practice as a
dilettantish diversion for historians and theorists. Rather, each area supports and sustains the other.
How does MCA define “media”?
In the context of this major, the term “media” includes both art works and forms of mass communication;
pre-electronic analog through digital forms; performance, broadcast, installations, print (from literature to
journalism) and all “new” and developing manifestations; design (2D, 3D, graphic), photography, film and
video production, theater, music and sound, and visual fine arts. MCA emphasizes the study of media in
their historical, economic, social and political contexts, and on personal, local, national, and global scales.
Do I need to be proficient as an artist, musician, actor, or filmmaker to major in MCA?
In short: no, you don’t. While some students may enter the program with a background in arts practice,
and a desire to bridge gaps between forms, this will not be true for all. Many MCA production courses
require no prior technical training, and allow students to develop an approach “from scratch,” as it were.
How do I begin work in the major?
To begin your MCA major, contact Prof. Hugh Manon (HManon@clarku.edu) to fill out a major declaration
form and to obtain an advisor. In your first semester after declaration, take the following two courses:
MCA 101, Introduction to the Theory, History, and Analysis of Media: Students examine a wide
range of media forms in relation to influential theoretical approaches such as structuralism and
post-structuralism, ideological analysis and psychoanalysis, feminist and queer theory, critical race
theory, theories of post-colonialism and globality, and media and technology studies.
One Media Production Workshop (options below) taken concurrently with MCA101. This coupling
of collaborative, hands-on production with media studies is your gateway to the MCA experience.
MCA Major Requirements (all individual course pre-requisites apply)
FY or sophomore
core courses
MCA 101 – Introduction to the Theory, History and Analysis of Media
Note: Students may count toward their major one MCA-qualifying course taken prior to MCA 101.
All other major courses must be taken either alongside or after MCA 101. A minimum grade of
B-minus is required in this course.
Media Production Workshop (course options listed below) – one course in this category should be
taken concurrently with MCA 101. A minimum grade of B-minus is required in this course.
FY, sophomore or Media Production Workshops focus on practicum skills and applications in an interdisciplinary way,
offering students opportunities for broadly applicable collaborations and projects. Workshops
junior year
encourage the development of intellectual and practical skills, including inquiry and analysis, critical
and creative thinking, quantitative and technical literacy, and teamwork and problem solving.
Choose 3 from different program areas; the first should be taken concurrently with MCA 101:
ARTS 100 Visual Studies: 2D Design and Color
ARTS 102 Drawing: Eye, Mind, Hand
ARTS 120 Introduction to Photography
ARTS 122 Introduction to Digital Photography
ARTS 124 Introduction to Graphic Design
MUSC 121 Principles of Tonal Analysis
MUSC 141 Computers & Music
MUSC 220 Composition Seminar
SCRN 107 Introduction to Digital Filmmaking
SCRN 145 Experimental Video Production
SCRN 214 Social and Cultural Issue Documentary Production
TA 219
Directing Seminar
TA 230
Playwriting
sophomore or
Junior year
Histories of Sight & Sound courses study media in the context of the broader examination of cultural
and social formations. Media History courses combine the analysis of diverse texts—visual and
verbal, literary and historical, theoretical and popular, imaginative and archival—with the study of
contemporary theories of representation in a range of media. Students produce innovative written
works of their own in the areas of theory, media criticism and analysis, and historical scholarship.
Choose 3 total, one each from Classical & Early Modern, Modern, and Contemporary categories;
each course must be from a different program area:
Classical and Early Modern category:
ARTH 109 Greek Myth and the Classical Ideal
ARTH 114 Ancient Cities and Sanctuaries
ARTH 124 Italian Art from Giotto to Botticelli
ARTH 131 Baroque Art in the Age of Bernini
MUSC 101 Bach and Before
Modern category:
GERM 250 German Film and the Frankfurt School
MUSC 102 Classical and Romantic eras
MUSC 104 Music and Modernism, 1885-1945
SCRN 119 History of U.S. Film Until 1950
SCRN 121 History of International Cinema Until 1960
SCRN 122 History of American Broadcasting and Electronic Media
Contemporary category:
ARTH 144 Art Since 1970
ARTH 243 Design in the 20th Century: Arts & Crafts to IKEA
MUSC 103 Post Music
MUSC 151 Jazz History
SCRN 120 History of U.S. Film Since 1950
SCRN 124 History of International Cinema Since 1960
MCA Major Requirements (continued) (all individual course pre-requisites apply)
sophomore and
junior
Theories of Culture courses investigate the theoretical writings on the production and reception of
various media works forms, as well as questions of gender, age, race class, and human subjectivity
more broadly.
Choose 3 from different program areas:
ARTH 216 Architecture and Democracy
ARTH 248 Gender and Representation
ARTH 230 Caravaggio
ARTS 274 Contemporary Issues
MUSC 210 Seminar in Music History and Criticism
SCRN 168 Image Theory
SCRN 217 Cult Logics
SCRN 231 Film Theory
SCRN 261 Critical Perspectives on Television
SCRN 288 Gender and Film
TA 211
Performance Philosophy
junior or senior
Creative Intermedia Seminars are the signature courses of the MCA major—a place for advanced
MCA students to demonstrate their historical and theoretical understanding of media, as well as
their practical skills and techniques, and apply them in a fully collaborative, definitively
interdisciplinary context. Each Creative Intermedia Seminar investigates a topical and conceptually
abstract, but focused subject which spans two or more disciplines represented by the five V&PA
programs. MCA has defined six broad guidelines for a Creative Intermedia Seminar: it should be
Narrow in its nominal focus, Broad in its programmatic utility and appeal, Practical (i.e. hands-on) in
its class format, Intensive in its approach to the material, Predictive (i.e. looking to the future, not
the past) in its approach to technology, and Public in its outcomes.
Choose 2 from the following, in any area or areas:
ARTS 209 Motion and Web Designs
MCA 2xx Individual or group directed study in media production
MUSC 125 Musical Acoustics
MUSC 142 Recording Practice and Audio Art
MUSC 160 Live Sound Workshop
MUSC 225 Jazz and Popular Music Composition and Performance
MUSC 242 Soundtracks
MUSC 270 Senior Tutorial in Computer Music
SCRN 209 Genre Production Workshop: [genre varies]
SCRN 210 Glitch Aesthetics
TA 206
The Image and The Word
TA 212
Actor as Thinker
senior only
MCA Capstone (choose 1 of the following 3 options, subject to faculty/course availability):
1) Fall V&PA Capstone: selected courses drawn from existing V&PA capstone offerings, such as:
MUSC 200 Music, Media & the Public Sphere
SCRN 291 Punk Media: Power, Petulance and the Impossible
SCRN 291 Paranormal Cinema
Fall offerings are interdisciplinary, but defaults toward written research (theory and history).
2) Spring MCA Capstone:
MCA2xx
Media Now! Theory into Practice (rotating topics in media production)
The Spring offering is interdisciplinary, but defaults toward creative media production.
3) MCA Honors Thesis (if the student is deemed eligible by MCA core faculty, 3.5 min GPA)