This course is required of all Media Studies students; students may be advised to take the course either concurrently with or in the semester after Understanding Media Studies. Media Studies: Ideas examines how the field of Media Studies, and the fields and disciplines that have laid its foundation, grapple with three central themes: Media and Power, Media and Technology, and Media and Aesthetics. The historical and philosophical roots of the discipline, as well as how those traditions continue through ongoing debates, are emphasized through a wide variety of readings, discussions, and academic writing assignments.