History, Development and Characteristic of Genres

Display Schedule

Code	Completion	Credits	Range	Language Instruction	Semester
311HDCG	exam	3	2 hours (45 min) of instruction per week, 57 to 72 hours of self-study	English	winter

Subject guarantor

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s)

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Department

The subject provides FAMU International

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the characteristic of certain genres, namely melodrama, western, horror, science fiction, gangster, war film, musical, road movie and parody. One lesson will be devoted to film noir, which is sometimes wrongly understood as a genre. After an introduction to the genre, each lesson will focus on one of the genres (with a particular focus on the US cinema), and students will have the opportunity to watch a number of excerpts from films, and will also watch 10 feature films on their own. The emphasis will be on the narrative, the „iconography“ of different genres, and the use of the spoken word.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will understand the specifics of each genre as well as a term „genre“ on itself. They will be able to define each genre and outline its development. As such, the course does not teach students to write scripts for genre films, but it should help them to do so significantly.

Prerequisites and other requirements

Literature

Altman, Rick. “A Semantic/syntactic Approach to Film Genre.” Cinema Journal 24, no. 3 (Spring 1984), p. 6–18.

Belton, John. American Cinema/American Culture. Rutgers University, 2012. p. 195–219.

Carroll, Noel. “The Nature of Horror.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 46, no. 1 (Autumn 1987), p. 51–59.

Creekmur, Corey K. “On the Run and on the Road: Fame and the outlaw couple in American cinema.” In: The Road Movie Book, ed. by Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark. Taylor and Francis ,1997, p. 90–109.

Elsaesser, Thomas. „Tales of Sound and Fury: Observations on the Family Melodrama.“ In: Gledhill, Christine (ed.): Home is Where the Heart is. London : BFI, 1994. p. 43–69.

Kozloff, Sarah. Overhearing Film Dialogue. Berkeley, Los Angeles : University of California Press, 2000.

Langford, Barry. Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond. Edinburgh University Press, 2005.

Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey. “Minnelli and Melodrama.” In: Nichols, Bill (ed.): Home is Where the Heart is. London : BFI, 1994. p. 190–194.

Place, Janey, and Lowell Peterson. “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir.” In: Movies and Methods (vol. 1), ed. by Bill Nichols. University of California Press, Los Angeles 1976, p. 325–338.

Schrader, Paul. „Notes on Film Noir.“ In: Film Noir Reader, ed. by Silver, Alain, and James Ursini. Limelight Editions, New York 2001, p. 53–64. Also available here: http://i.mtime.com/Noir/blog/1433838/

Sontag, Susan. “The Imagination of Disaster.” Available at: https://www.commentary.org/articles/susan-sontag/the-imagination-of-disaster/

Evaluation methods and criteria

The final grade will be calculated as follows: Class Attendance and Participation (25%); presentation (25%); midterm essay (25%); colloquium (25%)

Course web page

https://classroom.google.com/c/Mzk3NTc1NjE4NjUw?cjc=s2c62jw

Note

Further information

This course is an elective for all students of this school

	06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon	room 107 Room No. 1 (Lažanský palác) DOMINKOVÁ P. 14:50–16:25 (lecture parallel1)
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Mon	14:50–16:25	Petra DOMINKOVÁ	Room No. 1 Lažanský palác		lecture parallel1

Schedule for summer semester 2024/2025:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans

Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (Required elective subjects)