MSCI-325P Light, Time, Longing: Cinema as Physics

3 Credits

What if cinema does not merely represent physics, but allows us to experience it? This course explores light, time, sound, gravity, quantum mechanics, and other physical ideas through cinema. Films by Wong Kar-wai, Agns Varda, and Ildik Enyedi become sites for investigating both foundational physics and cinematic form. Students learn to distinguish physical phenomena from analogy and metaphor while exploring how scientific and artistic ways of knowing can illuminate one another. No previous physics or film studies experience is required. Through a multimodal approach of learning and assessment, students are invited to integrate science into their creative practice and make the invisible felt.