I tend to always get stuck with terribly difficult GE classes, however, this class was very easy and fun. Professor Catlin truly wants to get to know all her students and is very understanding. There is a lot of reading and listening related to the class, but I did none of it and studied with the study guide provided before the midterm and final and still scored high. The grade is comprised of the midterm, final, and an essay. The TA's are so helpful and genuine (shout out to Mukesh). Definitely recommend if you are looking for an easy GE that will not bore you and doesn't require a crazy amount of work.

Tbh I never really understood what was happening in lectures since everything felt like different tangents but the professor and TAs will give you a summary of what you should review before midterms/finals so you will be fine. Class size was relatively small and most people didn't show up so it allowed us to spend some 1-1 time with the professor and she is very very sweet and easily approachable either in person or through emails. She accommodates well and is very passionate about what she is teaching and wants to see her students succeed.
Would reccomend taking this class with friends since it makes it more enjoyable and should also note that the material starts from the 1910s and comes up 1 decade each week (week 10 is late 2000s, early 2010s).

I really enjoyed this class! If you are Indian or you have any knowledge of Indian culture/cinema it is basically a guaranteed A. It helps to know some Hindi words and some cultural/historical information about the Subcontinent if you want to wing all the assignments, but you should be able to learn everything you need to do well on the exams and the final paper. The professor is really nice and is passionate about the subject. I highly recommend this class for anyone looking for an interesting GE to take!

This class is very easy yet challenging at the same time. I stopped going to class week 5 and completely stopped all the readings I would only focus on the paper for the class which is worth 30% of your grade. The paper is composed of 2- 5 page papers or one 10 page paper your choice. The focus has to be on one film song (or two if your doing the 2- 5 pages). Overall study the night before the test the study guide and listen to all the songs and you should do fine. (Make sure you read because 10 questions are on the reading)
Class make up
30% paper
30% midterm (30 questions multiple choice (options A,B,C only)) NOTE EACH QUESTION IS ONE PERCENT OF YOUR GRADE FAIR WARNING.
30% Final (Same as midterm each question ONE PERCENT OF YOUR GRADE)
10% Attendance to your discussion (EACH DISCUSSION ONE PERCENT OF YOUR GRADE)
Most kids however got A's in class so do not be afraid of the make up you will be fine :)

professor and TA are one of the favorite and sweetest people i have even seen in UCLA. Amy is very very nice and helpful person. She is great greatest professor rich of music knowledge. As you all know, TA's in UCLA sucks (sorry for being factual toward TA's) except few, but GABRIEL is one of the chill and nicest TA i have ever seen.
I recommend all background people to take this class to boost GPA. In our class there were not only brown people, but people from China, Japan, guess Korea and African American as well.

The tests in this class are super easy (MCQ). You just need to go over the terms and readings that the Professor lists on the Midterm/Final review sheet. However, lectures can be quite boring and you don't really learn that much. The class is not structured well - the terms on the review sheet are usually random hindi/urdu/tamil words that we have to memorize the meanings of. The Professor herself has knowledge of the material but her voice is faint, making it hard to hear her. She usually just plays songs from movies produced during 1950-1990 and explains the plot. You have to memorize the names of the songs, the storyline of the movies they were in, and a few musical aspects for the tests.

Although you DO NOT need to know Hindi/Urdu to take this class, I will say that it helps a lot if you do - because you understand the meanings of the songs/movies she talks about it and that allows you to recall details easily.

Listen. Easy af. I don't know how it is if you're not brown/don't know anything about bollywood, but if you, like me, grew up on bollywood it is so fucking easy. don't go to lecture, don't do the readings, just look over the review sheets