I made a rather interesting observation in my American Studies senior thesis class the other day and I thought I’d share.
As we all know, GW does not have a film major, and they probably won’t get one for quite some time. There is a clear need and a strong desire from students for a film major, however apparently not clear enough or strong enough for GW to recognize. I’m sure they think it’s just a tiny group of outspoken film minors who want the major in the first place. I beg to differ!
In my senior thesis class, we recently went around the room to discuss our topics and, much to our American Studies professor’s dismay, nearly every single senior planned on writing a thesis on a film, or several films. The room was filled with people like me who wanted to explore film and its significance in culture, the film industry, or the themes and visuals of certain films in very close detail. I personally chose the American Studies major because it was the closest possible thing to a film major I could engineer at GW, but I was surprised to learn that so many other people had basically done the same thing.
This leads me to wonder: if so many GW students want to study film, and are willing to devote an entire semester of research and thesis preparation on film, why doesn’t GW step up to the plate and offer them a film major? In my opinion, it’s the least they could do for $40,000 per year! It just doesn’t make sense that so many people want to explore this particular academic path, yet the school simply refuses to allow them to do so.
I don’t want to have to try to view a film thesis through an American Studies lens. I shouldn’t have to take something I’m passionate about and water it down into something I’m not all that interested in. I should be able to just take my film topic, my thesis idea, and follow through with it.
The system is completely flawed and it needs to change!
