Film and Society II: Social and aesthetical life of human bodies, things, cities and landscapes

Subject guarantor:

Radovan HALUZÍK

Name of lecturer(s):

Radovan HALUZÍK

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

The course aim is to introduce student to sociological and social-anthropological thought and their pivotal approaches and concepts. Particular attention will be devoted to how we are affected by our society and the world around us, how we may view/perceive it and how that can be used artistically.

Mode of study:

Short lectures followed by classes and discussions. Screening of parts of films and samples from literature followed by discussion. Additionally, excursions around Prague and the surroundings with presentations and classes in the field.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

No requirements.

Recommended optional programme components:

None

Course contents:

This course follows Film and Society I. Though in the previous part of the course we made an effort to view society and the world around us as the subject of social construction and design in which we take part in film and arts, in this semester we will focus on a more phenomenological view of how our world and the things around us affect us. Particular attention will be devoted to things and consumer society, architecture and the fine arts, the human body and corporeality, nature and the wild, rural and urban landscapes. Part of the course will be a number of short excursions to museums, towns and their immediate surroundings.

Covered topics:

- How are things born, live and die? How are their function and aesthetics related? How does that form the lifestyle, personality and identity of our people...their possessors? How do things talk? What do they say?. Things as decorations, actors and direct heros in film narratives.

- Post-industrial consumer society and pop-culture. Is consumer society spiritless or creative? What key roles do style, good taste, image and all thos commercial and non-commercial artists and creators play?

- A brief anthropology of luxury. Luxury as a social and aesthetic category from the Renaissance to today. (short excursion)

- What is nature? When did this concept come about and why does it seem so attractive to us? Natural expanses in film and documentary works.

- The wilds - yesterday and today. The wilds as a mythic and film narrative. Tarzan, Mowgli, King-Kong and the others. Creatures, sharks, cowboys and indians.

Otherness and the exotic. History of the stories of „those exotic peoples“ on the edges of overseas savagery to suburban residents. „Let's give them a voice“: What has orientalism and post-colonial turnabout affected in today's artistic response?

The Czech countryside. Common sense and its image in Czech culture, arts and film.

- What is that nation and how is it preserved in the National Museum? Great nations, small Czech man and their artists. (short excursion)

- Human, city and countryside memory: How do we work with them? Question about genius loci. (short excursion)

- How were cities founded and how did they grow? Why have they in their phases start a new urban and artistic aesthetic? (short excursion)

- How do people move in a city? What are the different feelings in its different parts? (short phenomenological practical in the field)

- Why do we have the body such that we have and what separates us from the bodies of our neighbors, grandfather and grandmother? How is our body dependent on how we live? How do and Belmondo and Kája Mařík walk?

- What sounds are in the city and country around us? How does film handle the sounds of nature, birds, frogs an insects and what atmospheres come back to us?

Recommended or required reading:

Samples from feature and documentary films.

Literature covered:

-Gell, Alfred (1998)Art and Agency:An anthropological theory. Clarendem Press, Oxford.

-Gell, Alfred (1999) The Technology of Enchantment and The Enchantment of Technology. Pp. 159-186 in: Hirsch, Eric ? The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams. LSE Monographs on Social Anthropology vol.67. Athole, London.

-Kopytoff, Igor (1986, 64-91) The Cultural Biography of Things: Commodification as Process. In: Appadurai, Arjun ? The Social Life of Things: Commodities in cultural perspective. Cambridge University Press.

-Mintz, S. W. (1985) Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. Penguine Books.

-Miller, Daniel (1998) A Theory of Shopping. Polity Press, Oxford.

-Latour, Bruno (1993) We Have Never Been Modern. Harvard University Press, New York.

-Rowlands, Michael (1994) The Politics of Identity in Archeology. pp.129-143 In: Bond, G.C. and Gilliam, A. eds. (1994) Social Construction of the Past/ Representation as Power. Routledge, London.

-Bourdieu, Pierre (1986) Distinction: A Social Critique of Judgement of Taste. Routledge, London.

-Brooks, David (2001) Bobos: Nová americká elita a její styl. Dokořán, Praha.

-Klein, Naomi (2005) Bez loga. Argo/Dokořán, Praha.

-Sádlo, Pokorný, Hájek, Dreslerová, Cílek (2005) Krajina a revoluce: Významné přelomy ve vývoji kulturní krajiny českých zemí. Praha, Malá Skála.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

Lecture

Assessment methods and criteria:

Credit is awarded for the results of the final test and attendance. Also considered is the student class participation.

Course web page:

Note:

-

Further information:

This course is an elective for all AMU students

Schedule for winter semester 2013/2014:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2013/2014:

	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	místnost 423 Učebna CAS (Lažanský palác) HALUZÍK R. 09:50–12:15 (přednášková par. 1)
Tue
Fri
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Mon	09:50–12:15	HALUZÍK R.	Učebna CAS Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Animation - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Documentary Film - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Documentary Film - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Animation - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Scriptwriting and Dramaturgy - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Scriptwriting and Dramaturgy - Master (qualification subject, faculty subject, optional subject)
• Film Directing - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Film Directing - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Cinematography - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Cinematography - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Production - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Production - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Audiovisual Studies - Bachelor (qualification subject, faculty subject, optional subject)
• Editing - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Editing - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Sound Design - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Sound Design - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Photography CZ - Bachelor (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Photography CZ - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Audiovisual Studies - Master (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Restoring of Photogrphy (faculty subject, optional subject)