Surge in student interest revives The Hollywood Blockbuster summer class after hiatus
Taught by Kia Afra, a lecturer in Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, The Hollywood Blockbuster takes a break from arthouse films to critically analyze the successes and failures that paved the way for the modern blockbuster. Photo collage by DANIEL PEARSON, Photo Editor
Held to the expectation of watching several movies a week, film students can tend to feel exhausted trying to extract the themes, motifs and deeper meanings behind a three-hour piece of arthouse cinema. If the student isn’t in the right mindset, the long droning shots begin to feel like watching paint dry.
Instead, sound editor and lecturer in film studies Kia Afra believes it’s important to dig back to the roots of what inspired many students’ passions for film: the blockbuster spectacles with jaw-dropping visuals and unforgettable theater-going experiences. Afra, who has taught at Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts for five years, aims to give students a break from the tedious, esoteric “film school” films by reinstating his summer course, The Hollywood Blockbuster (FTV 329/529), after a two-year hiatus.
The course was first taught two years ago during the summer of 2020, when Afra was met with positive reviews, causing a resurgence of interest to bring back the class.
“Some of the things students said to me was, ‘We’re in Dodge and we love to study art films … but we don’t get a lot of opportunities to analyze big budget blockbuster films in an academic way. By bringing academic framework to these films, it’s like seeing them again in a new way.”
Over the course of nine weeks this summer on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:30 a.m., Afra will unveil production details of big budget cinema successes and failures that paved the way for the modern blockbuster.
Students will watch classics like films such as "Apocalypse Now," "Titanic," "Blade Runner" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" along with cult-blockbusters, B-film blockbusters and film adaptations of comic book franchises.
“One of the first times I went to the theater was for ‘Return of the Jedi’ in 1983,” Afra said. “You could say that was a film that changed my life. These films have such an impact on us; that’s why we have to understand them.”
In addition to screening and discussing films, Afra plans to cover the history of film rating systems and how these modes of quantifying a film’s quality arose to combat a rise in violence and sexuality in films. The class will also discuss the differences between a director’s cut and a blockbuster cut.
Despite having reading and writing requirements, Afra told The Panther he hopes this course is, above all, entertaining.
“I feel like on top of all (the requirements), a summer course has to be fun,“ Afra said. “You’re bringing people in at a time when they want to go on vacation. You better give them something really fascinating.”
With backgrounds in editing and post-production, Afra gained industry experience as a sound editor before deciding he wanted to teach. Joining Chapman in 2017, Afra has taught courses such as world cinema and film history. He has also published academic pieces on film history.
Combining his backgrounds and interests, Afra said this course is “right up his alley” and an opportunity to teach exactly what he works on. Afra wrote the entire curriculum from scratch and said he’s very excited to be teaching the course again.
“I love teaching this course,” Afra said. “At the end of the day, when you get student's reviews that are that good, you think ‘We’re onto something.'”
The Hollywood Blockbuster is open to all students despite major or year, the only requirement being a total of 30 graded credits, which can be bypassed with a signature from Afra. Although students have until June 8 to apply for a summer course, Afra encourages students to apply by April 29 to ensure the class meets its minimum student count.
