Plabnox Cures School of Arts and Medicine Announces New Graduate Program: Cinematic Hair Studies

The Plabnox Cures School of Arts and Medicine (PCSAM) will open a new graduate program of study, Cinematic Hair Studies, in Spring 2009. Prospective students in the Cinematic Hair Studies program will apply for the MA or PhD track. An MA will also be awarded to PhD candidates for partial fulfillment of the degree requirements.

The curriculum of PCSAM's Cinematic Hair program explores the discourses and texts of filmic hair from a critical and theoretical standpoint. Students will engage with professors and colleagues on the hair-related topics and problems addressed by cinema of the past and present. The course offerings are broad, with a particular focus on hair theory, history, and criticism. Students may choose to specialize with electives in, among other course offerings, Feminist Coiffure Theory, Follicular Semiotics, Hair Production: Tangles and Tantrums, Bouffants of the Studio System, and Puffy Iconography: Ted Danson and Michael Douglas.

The first two years of the PhD track require completion of the following core courses:

Historiography of Film Hair
Silent Strands
Bangs in Narrative Film or Bangs and the Documentary
Writing Eyebrow Criticism
Female Forelocks
Aerodynamic Hair and American Neoclassical Cinema
Hair Choreography: Hirsute Movement On-screen
Crinosities and Avant-Garde Film or The French New Wave: Rat-tails and Curls

The PhD track culminates in a Qualifying Examination after the fifth year of coursework, along with dissertation research. The dissertation must be submitted for review within ten years of commencing the Cinematic Hair Studies program.

We would like to remind prospective applicants that the Cinematic Hair Studies program is purely theoretical, historical, and critical in nature. Although PCSAM currently does not offer a graduate degree in Cinematic Hair Production, MA and PhD students may enroll in hair production, direction, and screenwriting classes at the undergraduate level.