Archetypes of characters and situations in religions 1

Subject is not scheduled Not scheduled

Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
306ACR1 Z 1 26S English winter

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Learning outcomes of the course unit

The course aim is to rejuvenate the existing study of religious symbols (as a part of culture) at FAMU by replacing the broader original study with the title „Dramaturgical Analyses of Biblical Stories and Figures“ with a new study entitled "Considerations of Multi-culturalness and Religious Pluralism in modern film.

The aim is to present in an introductory study in modern Western culture no only as a merely Christian society but primarily as a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious culture and as it is reflected in modern film. Effort will be made to demarcate the perspectives of the course including potential inter-disciplinary collaboration with other artistic and humanities studies.

Mode of study

The extent of the course is 4 instruction classes one every 14 days. Four instruction classes are set out as one hour lecture and three class instruction hours. Students have, during the course of the academic year, enough time for individual preparations for the course (independent study of film materials). Enough space is assured for screenings of selected film examples for topics and discussions about them.

Prerequisites and co-requisites

A necessary requirement for successful completion of the course is a basic good orientation of the students in modern film and independent work in the classes, including ability to consider one's own motivations and behaviour. An elementary knowledge of religions is welcomed, but one's own confession (religious affiliation and membership in a church) is not required.

Course contents

The aim is to present in an introductory study in modern Western culture no only as a merely Christian society but primarily as a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious culture and as it is reflected in modern film. Effort will be made to demarcate the perspectives of the course including potential inter-disciplinary collaboration with other artistic and humanities studies.

Topics:

  1. Adam and Eve. The creation and fall of man. Good and evil. Defiance and rebellion.

•Symbols of paradise in film 1:

•Symbols of paradies in film 2:

-Image of paradise in other religions - life after death, burial rituals, image of the ideal place

  1. Death of John the Baptist. Guilt and obediance. Guilt and innocence, force majeure, law and justice
  2. Cain and Abel, pain and anger. the victim, justice and punishment
  3. Jesus and sinners in the house of the Pharises. The child - parent - adult. Sense and feeling.
  4. Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. The internal world of man. Emotions. Extreme limitations. Dominance and submissiveness.
  5. Joseph and Potifar's wife. Injury to the ego. The dream and reality as desire and their realization. Jealousy. Loving relationships.
  6. The Ten Commandments.

•The Ten Commandments in film:

-The filmmakers context of the developed topic

-Christianity vs. Judaism

-period context development of the topic - moral imperatives of the time.

  1. Naming Saul the king. David and Goliath. The hero and anti-hero.
  2. Depiction of God in film. The Passion as a dramatic story.

Religious - societal context of film with this topic

Recommended or required reading

Books:

Knapp, Bettina L. „Introduction.“ A Jungian Approach to Literature. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1984. ix - xvi

Leitch, Vincent B. „Northrop Frye.“ The Norton Anthology: Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 1442 - 1445

films:

I Confess, director: Alfred Hitchcock, 1953.

Rosemary´s Baby, director: Roman Polanski, 1968.

Angel Heart, director: Alan Parker, 1987.

Dead Man, director: Jim Jarmusch, 1995.

The Last Temptation of Christ, director: Martin Scorsese, 1988.

and others.

Assessment methods and criteria

70% attendance

Completion of the final exam.

Note

none

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans