111-252 National Cinemas and Cultural Difference

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Available as 111-352 at 3rd-year level.

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Subject Description

A study of the institutional and cultural aspects of national cinemas. In any given year the focus will be on either a survey of different national cinemas or on a specific cinema emerging from a particular cultural environment. Cinemas to be studied may include: the Mediterranean, Britain, Asia, Europe, South America, Africa. The focus will be on Italian cinema, with an emphasis on the rebirth of the Italian cinema in Post World War II period, and its evolution up to the present. Topics may include: neo-realism, Italian art cinema and modernism, post 68 political cinema, Italian comedy, the spaghetti western and contemporary crisis cinema. Themes such as decadence, fantasy and myth will be examined in relation to auteurs such as Fellini, Pasolini and Cavani. The representation of regional, class and gender difference(s) will be studied in relation to formal and aesthetic invention and the construct(s) of national identities. At a moment which may more appropriately be regarded as post-national, the concept of a national cinema will be interrogated in relation to contemporary film production, exhibition and distribution.

Assessment

Written work which may comprise class papers, essays or take-home examinations totalling about 5000 words.