107-025 Postcolonialism and the Cinema

Usually 12.5 points of first year cinema studies, see Prerequisites.

This subject examines films set in the Pacific region (Tahiti, Hawaii, Vietnam, Japan, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines) from a postcolonial perspective, studying films from various national cinemas as well as from Hollywood. Films will be studied from a broad range of genres including film noir (William Whyler's The Letter), historical epic (Regis Wargnier's Indochine) and documentary cinema (F W Murnau's Tabu) as well as from entertainment cinema. In addition to this the subject will deal with films in which a postcolonial point of view underlies the directors intentions, such as Marlon Fuente's Bontoc Eulogy and Clara Law's Floating Life. Students who complete the subject should be familiar with postcolonial theory in writing about the cinema, and with a range of films which utilise theories of postcolonialism.