Professor Mankekar is one of the best professor I have had a UCLA. She is so passionate about the class and she truly cares about her students. I recommend taking a class with her. The class was fair and ranged from a variety of topics!

LOVED this class! Very interesting material that covered a lot of different aspects of the subject. Professor Mankekar knows how to keep things interesting and challenge her students to think beyond what we are normally taught to think. The readings were not bad at all, and discussion sections really helped to clarify the ideas. Lectures were interesting, as were the videos shown in class. My TA, Derek, was AWESOME. Highly recommend him! Exams were a breeze and Professor Mankekar and the TAs prepared the students very well. I would definitely take this class again, and I urge everyone else to take it too!

Professor Mankekar genuinely cares about her students. She's one of my favorite professor, so much that I make a point to look up classes taught by her just because I liker her so much! The lectures are podcasted and she usually posts the slides, but honestly going to class you get a fuller experience and can laugh along to her jokes. The midterm and final are really inclusive of the lectures and readings, so make sure you skim them or just pay attention in lecture/discussion.

The class (and most of her classes) are broken down grading as so:
10% - class and discussion participation
30% - reading responses (theres two so 15% each)
30% - in-class midterm (multiple choice)
30% - in-class final (multiple choice)

Mankekar is a lovely women but I just didn't care for a lot of the material she teaches. She is very strict about attendance and administrative stuff but she wants to see her students succeed, remembers students names and encourages students to talk to her if they are struggling with the material or just life stuff. The class is based off Two short film/reading analysis papers, two exams (multiple choice) and class discussions/attendance. She does podcast but attendance is mandatory because of group discussions. Its more of a gender studies class than film &tv class (it is multi listed though) and I just didn't like the readings she assigned.
I'm a poli sci major so this was not my element.
My TA was Lina she was great but I just struggled with the material. I'm writing this before my grade is final but I think I'll end up with a B+/B in the class.

Really fun class, opens your eyes to a lot of things! No textbooks required, just do the online readings carefully and listen to podcasted lectures.

Mankekar is one of the best professors I have had at UCLA so far. She is an engaging lecturer who genuinely cares about her students' learning. The topics covered were incredibly interesting and applicable to many facets of our lives today. The movies were great and some of them are now on my all-time favorites list. There are no mandatory screenings so you are able to watch them on your own, and the reading assignments were never overwhelming. Her lectures were a lot more complex and advanced than what we were expected to know for the film analyses and final exam, but they were enjoyable if you actually cared about the content of the class. The TAs were super friendly and supportive. I would highly recommend taking any of Professor Mankekar's courses - and this course was exceptional.

I took this class because I was interested in engaging more in my cultural roots and saw the amazing reviews on BruinWalk. The reviews (when I checked) neglected to mention the heavy amount of reading required for this class. While I agree that Professor Mankekar is a great professor who is passionate about helping students learn and keeping them engaged, it is difficult to keep up with such long and often repetitive readings. We have yet to take the final, but the midterm was 30 MC questions. Although MC exams are usually easy, the specificity of the questions and the short length of the exam made it difficult to do well.

The professor was very engaging and enlightening during lecture. However, I wish she would have sent the power points before lecture so students could pay closer attention to the information she was saying that wasn't on the slides. She tended to have lots to cover over one lecture and went through the information too quickly at times. The course itself was interesting, but the amount and length of readings assigned was difficult to manage. The class also has a multiple choice midterm and final on top of the two papers assigned.

this class made me woke ! the material was interesting and engaging, and i definitely took a lot away from this class for my own life. mankekar covered a lot in lecture so it was hard to follow because her powerpoint slides barely had any text on them. the assigned readings were a lot, so be prepared for a lot of reading (or a lot of BSing). there were two assigned papers which were both graded harsher than i expected (but this depends on your TA). would recommend if you're really interested in the content!!

If you're looking for your "easy" GE, then this is it. You don't even have to show up to class. Just listen to the podcasts. She's not an amazing lecturer so I would go to TA office hours for extra help. For the readings, I never found it necessary to do them. In discussion, they would be analyzed by groups so just go to discussion sections and take notes then, and you will be fine in regards to them. Mankekar also touches up on the important parts in class so don't worry about them. Overall, Mankekar wants you to do well, so the class is never made hard. Both midterm exam are all multiple choice, so just memorize the concepts with flashcards the night before and you will do well. Only time you actually have to understand some info is for the small papers you write, which even then are not a big deal. Podcasts + discussion is all you need.