Jane wondered: > can someone tell me when film studies became recognized as a discipline in us university curriculum? also at what point cultural studies entered the scene? dates, time frames, cites would be most appreciated. I'm sure others on this list have a keener knowledge of the "discipline's" history, but in general the answer has to be somewhat vague. There have been film programs at a few campuses at least for many years but in general the movement toward disciplinarity built up steam in the 1960s, coinciding with the rise of auteruism in criticism and practice. The Society for Cinema Studies was founded in 1959, which bears comparison with the founding of the MLA (anticipating the acceptance of English literature as a discipline) over 110 years ago and the American Literature section of the MLA in 1921. In general, again, "cultural studies" and its impact on film study can be hard to measure. American criticism tended to lag behind French and British developments in semiotic theory, and the Cultural Studies movement, such as it is, lagged behind other nations as well, especially Britain and Australia. One key development in American cultural studies would have to be the huge conference at the University of Illinois in 1991. The procedings are contained in CULTURAL STUDIES, ed. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson and Paula Treicher, Routledge 1992. But film is just one element in the wide scope of that conference. Don Larsson ----------------------------------------------------------- Donald F. Larsson English Department, AH 230 Minnesota State University Mankato, MN 56001 ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html