Cinema and the City

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Subject guarantor:

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s):

Petra DOMINKOVÁ

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

By the end of the course the student will be able to:

?understand the properties of the variety of settings

?explain which significance they have

?analyze a film of interest based on the reading from the variety of the subjects

Mode of study:

Seminar

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Class Attendance and Participation: I expect students to attend all classes. Students will read the texts required for each lesson and discuss them in the class. Lively discussion is expected. Students should ask anything that is not clear enough, bring their own ideas, and participate actively in the program of the course. Participation and contribution to class discussion will be taken significantly into account in the final grade. Excessive unexcused absences result in lowering of the final grade!

Mid-term essay: 1 000 words

Due date: 25 March 2015

Students themselves will choose the topic for the paper. Papers have to be typed and may be sent via email. Due date is not negotiable. If a student must request an extension, she/he has to do it before the paper is due. All sources (films, books, articles, interviews, websites etc) have to be cited: any time student quotes or paraphrases someone else?s work she/he has to give her/him credit, otherwise it is understood as plagiarism, that is unaceptable and will cause student?s failing from the assignmnet and may lead to failing from the overall course as well.

Presentation: A presentation based on the film and reading. Each student will lead the discussion about the film we watched. This involves bringing a handout for each student (plus me) and creating discussion questions for the group. The goal is to get us talking about how the particular film depicts urban/rural/natural setting.

Final essay (4 pages minimum, i.e. 1.400 words): On a chosen topic that corresponds to the material covered in the course; the usage of one obligatory reading is expected. The final essay cannot cover the same film the student presented on. The students will present their final paper drafts May-06. Due: May 13

Recommended optional programme components:

None

Course contents:

The aim of the course is to discuss the city setting of the various films. Students will discuss the films from the different epochs and different regions and will examine the significance of urban setting that those films present.

Recommended or required reading:

Readings:

NB: All readings will be available in DropBox (if you do not use it, please register at https://www.dropbox.com/ , it is free and handy!)

Carr, Steven Alan. ?Wretched Refuse: Watching New York Ethnic Slum Films in the Aftermath of 9/11,? In: Pomerance, Muray, ed. City That Never Sleeps: New York and the Filmic Imagination. NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007: 229-242.

Graf, Alexander. ?Paris-Berlin-Moscow: On the Montage Aesthetic in the City Symphony Films of the 1920s.? Retrieved from www.academia.edu January 27th 2015.

Grimes Topping, Christine, ?The world is out of control: Nimrod Antal's Kontroll (2003) as a socio-political critique of powerless individuals in a postmodern world.? Studies in European Cinema 7, No. 3 (December 2010) , pp. 235-245.

Mercken-Spaas, Godelieve, ?Destruction and Reconstruction in Hiroshima, mon amour.? Literature/Film Quarterly , Vol. 8, No. 4 , October 1, 1980: 244?249.

Nagib, Lúcia. Brazil on Screen : Cinema Novo, New Cinema, Utopia. London, GBR: I.B. Tauris, 2007, pp. 99?114.

Sandole-Staroste, Ingrid, Women in Transition Between Socialism and Capitalism. Greenwood Press, 2002, pp. 129?150. (chapter MATERIAL CONDITIONA UNDER STATE SOCIALISM).

Schleier, Merrill, Skyscraper Cinema: Architecture and Gender in American Film, Minneapolis: Universoty of Minnesota Press, 2009, pp. 119?192.

Sperb, Jason, ?Empty Spaces: Remapping the Chaotic Milieu of the Modernist City in ?Sunrise?? Studies in the Literary Imagination 40, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 77-89.

Webb, Michael. ?The City in Film,? Design Quarterly 136 (1987): 1-32.

Wheeler, Ben. ?Reality is What You Can Get Away With: Fantastic, Imaginings, Rebellion and Control in Terry Gilliam?s Brazil,? Critical Survey. 2005, Vol. 17 Issue 1, pp. 95-108.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

None

Assessment methods and criteria:

The course grade will be calculated as follows and will be based on three aspects:

Participation in discussions and presence: 33.3%

plus TWO from the following assignments (based on each student?s choice):

Midterm Essay: 33.3%

Final Essay: 33.3%

Presentation: 33.3%

Course web page:

Note:

Weekly schedule:

Week 1 [Tue, Feb-11]

Theme: Introduction

- space, place, landscape etc.

- phenomenology of space

Week 2 [Tue, Feb-18]

Theme: City symphonies

Discussion: Man with the movie camera (Chelovek s kino-apparatom, Dziga Vertov, 1929, 68 min.)

Reading: Graf, Alexander. ?Paris-Berlin-Moscow: On the Montage Aesthetic in the City Symphony Films of the 1920s.? Retrieved from www.academia.edu January 27th 2015.

Week 3 [Tue, Feb-25]

Theme: Rural vs. Urban setting

Discussion: SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, USA, 1927, 94?, b&w)

Reading: Sperb, Jason, ?Empty Spaces: Remapping the Chaotic Milieu of the Modernist City in ?Sunrise?? Studies in the Literary Imagination 40, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 77-89.

Week 4 [Tue, Mar-04]

Theme: Crime in the City

Discussion: DEAD END (William Wyler, USA, 1937, 93?, b&w)

Reading: Carr, Steven Alan. ?Wretched Refuse: Watching New York Ethnic Slum Films in the Aftermath of 9/11,? In: Pomerance, Muray, ed. City That Never Sleeps: New York and the Filmic Imagination. NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007: 229-242.

Week 5 [Tue, Mar-11]

Theme: Skyscapers

Discussion: THE BIG CLOCK (John Farrow, USA, 1948, 95?, b&w)

Reading: Schleier, Merrill, Skyscraper Cinema: Architecture and Gender in American Film, Minneapolis: Universoty of Minnesota Press, 2009, pp. 119?192.

Week 6 [Tue, Mar-18]

Theme: Paneláky (Prefabs)

Discussion: PREFABSTORY (Panelstory, Věra Chytilová, Czech Republic, 1979, 96?, color)

Reading: Sandole-Staroste, Ingrid, Women in Transition Between Socialism and Capitalism. Greenwood Press, 2002, pp. 129?150. (chapter MATERIAL CONDITIONA UNDER STATE SOCIALISM).

Week 7 [Tue, Mar-25]

Theme: Deconstruction and reconstruction

Discussion: HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (Seom, Alain Resnais, France, 1959, 90?, b&w)

Reading: Mercken-Spaas, Godelieve, ?Destruction and Reconstruction in Hiroshima, mon amour.? Literature/Film Quarterly , Vol. 8, No. 4 , October 1, 1980: 244?249.

Week 8 [Tue, Apr-01]

Theme: Modern City

Discussion: PLAYTIME (Jacquest Tati, France, 1967, 115?,color)

Reading: Ockman, Joan. ?Architecture in a mode of distraction: Eight takes on Jacques Tati?s Playtime,? In Mark Lamster, ed. Architecture and film. Princeton Architectural Press, 2000, pp. 171-196.

Week 9 [Tue, Apr-08]

Theme: Postmodern City

Discussion: CONTROL (Kontroll, Nimrod Antal, Hungary, 2003, 105?,color)

Reading: Grimes Topping, Christine, ?The world is out of control: Nimrod Antal's Kontroll (2003) as a socio-political critique of powerless individuals in a postmodern world.? Studies in European Cinema 7, No. 3 (December 2010) , pp. 235-245.

Week 10 [Tue, Apr-15]

Theme: Ghetto / Favela

Discussion: CITY OF GOD (Cidade de Deus, Fernando Meirelles, Brazil, 2002, 130?, color)

Reading: Nagib, Lúcia. Brazil on Screen : Cinema Novo, New Cinema, Utopia. London, GBR: I.B. Tauris, 2007, pp. 99?114.

Week 11 [Tue, Apr-22]

Theme: City as Hell

Discussion: AUTUMN BALL (Sügisball, Veiko Öunpuu, Estonia, 2007, 123?, color)

Reading: Webb, Michael. ?The City in Film,? Design Quarterly 136 (1987): 1-32.

Week 12 [Tue, Apr-29]

Theme: Dystopian City

Discussion: BRAZIL (Terry Gilliam, USA, 1985, 132?, color)

Reading: Wheeler, Ben. ?Reality is What You Can Get Away With: Fantastic, Imaginings, Rebellion and Control in Terry Gilliam?s Brazil,? Critical Survey. 2005, Vol. 17 Issue 1, pp. 95-108.

Week 13[Tue, May-06]

Theme: Discussion about final papers

Week 14 [Tue, May-13]

Theme: Final discussion

- what did (not) we learn etc.

Final essays are due

Further information:

This course is an elective for all students of this school

Schedule for winter semester 2014/2015:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2014/2015:

	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
Tue
Wed	místnost 241 Učebna 3 (Lažanský palác) DOMINKOVÁ P. 11:30–13:05 (přednášková par. 1)
Thu
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Wed	11:30–13:05	DOMINKOVÁ P.	Učebna 3 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Photography EN - Bachelor (optional subject)
• Photography EN - Master (optional subject)
• Erasmus (optional subject)
• Cinematography (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting-2014 (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (optional subject)