Intro to Media Studies

Last Updated: Tue, 01/13/2026
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Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
2400
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Media shapes reality—but who shapes media? Humans are the first medium; every story, symbol, and system shapes who we are. This course examines the nature of media, its co-evolution with cultural systems, its role in power, and its influence on our future. From ancient myths to AI-generated worlds, we will explore how media define humanity and expand (or limit) what is possible.

Course Overview

If humans are the first medium, every story, symbol, and system rewires us—constitutions, scriptures, and memes alike are program updates to human. This course examines media as an active force that shapes perception, distributes power, and scripts the future. We will investigate its nature, its entanglement with consciousness, and its capacity to redraw reality, tracing how media from ancient myths to AI-generated worlds define humanity and set the boundaries of the possible. Media theory is not observation; it is intervention. You are expected to engage fully with readings, discussions, and projects as live parts of a shared system; contribute to culture by creating work that did not exist before; think critically and act deliberately by testing frameworks, questioning assumptions, and tracking consequences; and work the loop—readings, assignments, rubrics, and mood tracking feeding and depending on each other. By the end of this course, you will be able to analyze media as both a tool for thought and a cultural system; trace its co-evolution with consciousness, power, and possibility; apply theoretical frameworks to current and emerging media forms; and create media artifacts that actively intervene in cultural narratives.
 

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

II. Academic Integrity & Honor Code:

  • This course demands the highest academic integrity. All work must be original, properly cited, and adhere to the Georgia Tech Honor Code. Plagiarism (deliberate use of unacknowledged outside sources) and undisclosed AI use are violations. Penalties include zero on assignment, course failure, Dean’s report.
  • (Full GT Honor Code: GT Honor Code)
Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

Core IMPACTS | Arts, Humanities & Ethics

This is a Core IMPACTS course in the Arts, Humanities & Ethics area, providing essential knowledge in foundational academic areas to support students’ broad academic and career goals.

Orienting Question: - How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?

Learning Outcome: - Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts or works in the visual/performing arts.

Career-Ready Competencies: - Ethical Reasoning - Information Literacy - Intercultural Competence


 

Instructor first name:
Watson
Instructor last name:
Hartsoe
Section:
B1
CRN
30325
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

Action Films

Last Updated: Wed, 01/07/2026
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Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
3257
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Global Cinema: Action Films introduces students to the major action subgenres—from spy thrillers and buddy films to sci-fi blockbusters and superhero spectaculars—while examining its aesthetic devices, history, cultural impact, and global evolution. The course traces the emergence of action cinema through its precursors, such as film noir and westerns, to establish the genre's codes, conventions, and preoccupations. It further situates action film as a global practice by analyzing Hollywood productions alongside Hong Kong wuxia, Bollywood masala films, Japanese samurai cinema, and Korean thrillers, revealing their influence on the idiom, tempo, and aesthetic strategies of the contemporary action film. 

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Arts, Humanities & Ethics area.

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages, or of works in the visual/performing arts.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence
Instructor first name:
Koel
Instructor last name:
Banerjee
Section:
Hp
CRN
35404
33269
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

Studies in Fiction—Cherokee Literature & Cultural Memory

Last Updated: Tue, 01/06/2026
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Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
3202
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

This course introduces students to the study of Cherokee literature through close reading, thoughtful discussion, and engagement with fiction and related texts grounded in the historical and cultural contexts of what became the U.S. Southeast. We will explore how literature shapes and reflects the world, considering questions of identity, society, place, and human experience as they emerge from Indigenous-authored narratives.

Focusing on historical and contemporary fiction, the course examines how Cherokee writers represent removal, survival, and the ongoing afterlives of nineteenth-century U.S. settler colonialism. Students will read novels alongside selected historical documents, excerpts from Cherokee print culture, and short critical readings to understand how fiction functions as a form of historical meaning-making rather than a departure from it. Through writing, discussion, and reflection, students will develop skills in close reading and interpretation while considering how literature articulates sovereignty, memory, and Indigenous presence in the present and future.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

If you engage in plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, you will fail the assignment and possibly be referred to the Office of Student Integrity. You should be familiar with these Georgia Tech sites:


A Note Addressing Artificial Intelligence:
This course is about growing in your ability to write, communicate, and think critically. Generative AI agents should only be used as tools. Tools cannot learn or communicate for you, and they cannot meet the course requirements for you. AI cannot stand in for your voice and your ideas. Work generated with AI and submitted will be treated as if it is plagiarized work—which leads the student to fail the assignment and possibly be referred to the Office of Student Integrity.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Arts, Humanities & Ethics area. Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages, or of works in the visual/performing arts.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence
Instructor first name:
Randall
Instructor last name:
Harrell
Section:
RH
CRN
35299
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

American Literature & Culture—Movements, Memory, Meaning

Last Updated: Tue, 01/06/2026
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Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
3511
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

This course surveys major movements in American literature from early foundations to the late twentieth century, with an emphasis on how literature reflects, resists, and reimagines the cultural and political forces that shaped the United States. Through poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, and novels, we will examine how authors have engaged with foundational questions around identity, freedom, race, gender, labor, and belonging. Major literary movements covered include Romanticism and Transcendentalism, Realism and Naturalism, Modernism, the Harlem Renaissance, Postmodernism, and contemporary experimentalism. Authors could possibly include Herman Melville, Kate Chopin, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ernest Hemingway, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Frank O’Hara, Hart Crane, Henry David Thoreau, Annie Dillard, William Carlos Williams, Alison Hedge Coke, Toni Morrison, and David Foster Wallace. Students will engage in literary analysis, historical contextualization, and critical writing through a combination of essays, short reflections, and/or digital creative projects.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

If you engage in plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, you will fail the assignment and possibly be referred to the Office of Student Integrity. You should be familiar with these Georgia Tech sites:


A Note Addressing Artificial Intelligence:
This course is about growing in your ability to write, communicate, and think critically. Generative AI agents should only be used as tools. Tools cannot learn or communicate for you, and they cannot meet the course requirements for you. AI cannot stand in for your voice and your ideas. Work generated with AI and submitted will be treated as if it is plagiarized work—which leads the student to fail the assignment and possibly be referred to the Office of Student Integrity.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Arts, Humanities & Ethics area. Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?


Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages, or of works in the visual/performing arts.


Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence
Instructor first name:
Randall
Instructor last name:
Harrell
Section:
B
CRN
33349
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

English Composition II

Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
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PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
ENGL
Course number:
1102
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

A composition course that develops writing skills beyond the levels of proficiency required by ENGL 1101, that emphasizes interpretation and evaluation, and that incorporates a variety of more advanced research methods. Develops communication skills in networked electronic environments, emphasizes interpretation and evaluation of cultural texts, and incorporates research methods in print and on the Internet.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Writing area. 

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.  

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question: 

  • How do I write effectively in different contexts?  

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes: 

  • Students will communicate effectively in writing, demonstrating clear organization and structure, using appropriate grammar and writing conventions.
  • Students will appropriately acknowledge the use of materials from original sources.
  • Students will adapt their written communications to purpose and audience.
  • Students will analyze and draw informed inferences from written texts.  

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies: 

  • Critical Thinking
  • Information Literacy
  • Persuasion  
Instructor first name:
Corinne
Instructor last name:
Matthews
Section:
P1
CRN
28508
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

Intro to Literary Studies—Methods to Read Well & Make Meaning

Last Updated: Thu, 01/08/2026
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PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
2060
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

This course introduces students to the study of literature through close reading, thoughtful discussion, and engagement with diverse texts from a variety of cultural, historical, and spatial contexts. We will explore how literature shapes and reflects the world, considering questions of identity, society, and human experience. Students will encounter various forms of literature, which might include poetry, fiction, drama, and hybrid texts that challenge conventions and invite multiple interpretations.

In addition to reading and discussion, students will experiment with different theoretical perspectives—social, historical, and literary—while making critical ideas accessible. Through writing, reflection, and creativity, students will develop skills in reading, thinking, and engaging with literature thoughtfully, considering both artistic form and broader social significance. This course emphasizes curiosity, critical thinking, and how literature can open new ways of seeing and understanding the world.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

If you engage in plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, you will fail the assignment and possibly be referred to the Office of Student Integrity. You should be familiar with these Georgia Tech sites:


A Note Addressing Artificial Intelligence:
This course is about growing in your ability to write, communicate, and think critically. Generative AI agents should only be used as tools. Tools cannot learn or communicate for you, and they cannot meet the course requirements for you. AI cannot stand in for your voice and your ideas. Work generated with AI and submitted will be treated as if it is plagiarized work—which leads the student to fail the assignment and possibly be referred to the Office of Student Integrity.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Arts, Humanities & Ethics area. Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?


Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages, or of works in the visual/performing arts.


Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence
Instructor first name:
Randall
Instructor last name:
Harrell
Section:
B
CRN
35143
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

English Composition II

Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
Upload a PDF
PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
ENGL
Course number:
1102
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

A composition course that develops writing skills beyond the levels of proficiency required by ENGL 1101, that emphasizes interpretation and evaluation, and that incorporates a variety of more advanced research methods. Develops communication skills in networked electronic environments, emphasizes interpretation and evaluation of cultural texts, and incorporates research methods in print and on the Internet.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Writing area. 

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.  

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question: 

  • How do I write effectively in different contexts?  

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes: 

  • Students will communicate effectively in writing, demonstrating clear organization and structure, using appropriate grammar and writing conventions. 
  • Students will appropriately acknowledge the use of materials from original sources. 
  • Students will adapt their written communications to purpose and audience. 
  • Students will analyze and draw informed inferences from written texts.  

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies: 

  • Critical Thinking 
  • Information Literacy 
  • Persuasion  
Instructor first name:
Corinne
Instructor last name:
Matthews
Section:
H04
CRN
35042
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

Science, Technology, Race

Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
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PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
3306
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Beginning from the understanding that information and communication technologies are foundational to our social and cultural infrastructure, this course takes a critical approach to the ways that culture - in the form of race and gender - shapes the uses, design, and deployment of computers, the internet, and artificial intelligence.  

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

The Learning Outcomes for the Arts, Humanities & Ethics Core IMPACTS area:

Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance, and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages or of works in the visual/performing arts.

The Learning Outcomes for the Social Sciences IMPACTS area:

Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economics, political, social, or geographic relationships develop, persist, or change.

Instructor first name:
Andre
Instructor last name:
Brock
Section:
B
CRN
35320
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

Communication & Culture

Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
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PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
3206
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Television shows, movies, music, books, and other forms of mass media provide tremendous insight into the varied experiences of first-generation college students. Through character portrayal and complex storytelling in their scripts, lyrics, and written words, audiences are provided a glimpse into the real lived experiences of first-generation students. This course will cross analyze characters and various forms of popular mass media with current student development theories and intersectionality as it relates to holistic student success.

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Humanities area.

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic and philosophical works.

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts or of works in the visual/performing arts.

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence
Instructor first name:
Charmaine
Instructor last name:
Troy
Section:
CT
CRN
35546
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication

Designing Disease: Modern Media in the Age of Pandemics

Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
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PDF required. Please edit this page and upload a PDF. Please check PDF for accessibility prior to submission.
Course prefix:
LMC
Course number:
3318
Semester:
Spring
Academic year:
2026
Course description:

Covid, despite modern advances in medical technology, taught us that pandemics are not just about medical or biological phenomena. Preventing the contagion and controlling the outbreak of information gleaned –both accurate and inaccurate–proved almost as challenging as containing and curing the virus. Via the lens of world literature, film, and media, this class will explore ethical questions throughout the history of biology and medicine during pandemics. From the Middle Ages to the contemporary world, we will look at representations of health, disease, and the medical establishment, and the cultural implications of medical innovation. Along with literature, film, and media, students will consult a variety of scientific and cultural artifacts that will add to ethical discussions about pandemics. Over the course of the semester we will reflect on the profound assumptions rooted in the language, images, and media used over time to deal with disease and pandemics. 

And, since we are in Metz, we will put special emphasis on Europe, France, and the Alsace-Lorraine region as we take required Friday outings that enhance our inquiry. For example, we will visit WWI sites to learn about war’s role during the Spanish flu. We will also travel to Colmar to view the Isenheim Altarpiece to discover art’s role in health communication as well as to the Fort de Queuleu concentration camp in Metz to understand Nazi ideology regarding the human body. 

Academic honesty/integrity statement:

Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.

Core IMPACTS statement(s) (if applicable):

This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Arts, Humanities & Ethics area.

Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.

This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:

  • How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic, and philosophical works?

 

Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:

  • Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages, or of works in the visual/performing arts.

 

Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:

  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Information Literacy
  • Intercultural Competence
Instructor first name:
Jennifer
Instructor last name:
Orth-Veillon
Section:
RMZ
CRN
35481
Department (you may add up to three):
Literature, Media, and Communication
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