Course Catalog

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Course Catalog

TOPICS IN FILM STUDIES (FM2091)

Courses on different topics in the discipline, enriching the present course offerings. These classes are taught by permanent or visiting faculty. Topics vary each semester. For the course description, please find this course in the respective semester on the public course browser: https://www.aup.edu/academics/course-catalog/by-term.

WOMEN AND FILM (FM2092)

Attempts to understand Hollywood's ambiguous attitude toward women during and after the studio system. What do roles played by women tell us about American culture and its fear of women? Also investigates women's roles in Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, and Truffaut, and the female image presented on the screen by directors such as Jane Campion, Diane Kurys, and Agnes Varda.

PHILOSOPHY & FILM (FM2095)

Uses film to examine various philosophical ideas and critical concepts. Students look at a number of key Western texts and thinkers and discuss them in the context of a broad range of films. Uses these films as illustrations to investigate questions about knowledge, the self and personal identity, moral philosophy, social and political thought, and critical theory.

FILM GENRE: THE WESTERN (FM2096)

The Western has used to examine American myths about history, race, gender and politics on an uncertain frontier. Looking at films from three continents and from directors including Ford, Hawks, Mann, Leone, Greenwald, Reichardt, Peckinpah, Lucas and Kurosawa, we’ll explore how film works to show the limits and possibilities of culture in collision with ideas of itself.

EUROPEAN CINEMA & THE BODY (FM2097)

This course examines the intricate relationship existing between cinema and the body. How is cinematographic art able to represent the creative faculties but also the dark sides of the body : its gestures, desires, needs and pulsions (in sexuality and gender identity) ? How can it account for the cognitive, cultural, political and technological revolutions associated with the body throughout European history (such as the Body Politics or the Technological Body) ? Structured around screenings and classroom lectures, the course addresses these questions by introducing the students to elements of film studies and Body Theory as well as locating each of the screened films in their historical and cultural contexts. The aim of the course is for students to develop an informed appreciation of the issues at stake in the variety of cinematographic representations of the body.

CINEMA & THE POLITICAL (FM2098)

Studies the intricate relationship between politics and cinema : how films represent, document but also problematize the political dimension of cultures, societies and individual experience. Both content of films (themes, plot, contexts) and their forms (narrative structures, mise en scène, cinematography, editing) are analyzed to understand how ideological messages are put together and communicated to the spectator. Studied films include political subjects such as war, 9/11, revolution, electoral politics, issues of race, gender, media, globalization, the politics of history and identity politics. The course is organized around screenings and seminars.

PHOTOGRAPHIE ET LE CINEMA (FM2450)

This course will explore the bridges between photographic imagery and cinematographic imagery. This course will focus on contemporary artists (Cindy Sherman, Sophie Calle, Jeff Wall, Gregory Crewdson, etc.) whose hybrid works econstruct the real and dissolve identity. We will also focus on how the cinematographic eye converges with and complements the photographic eye. Conducted in French, this course combines critical analysis and practice (production of films and photographs). Prerequisites: 1000-level course (preferably in Film Studies, French Studies, ommunications, or Art History). Satisfies FrenchBridge requirement.

FILM DIRECTORS (FM2800)

This course explores the work of an individual film directors, whose films will be critically analyzed with respect to the cultural, political and artistic contexts of their production and reception. The course is offered every semester to fulfill the art of directing requirement in the film major, though the thematic focus and methodological perspective may change depending on the director in question. Students will have the opportunity to study a significant portion of the entire output of the filmmaker, whose influence and legacy will likewise feature in the discussions. Students will engage with the published scholarship on the director, perform close analysis of their films and investigate their critical reception, through combination of individual and group assignments.

FRENCH FILM & FICTION NOW (FM3011)

The course aims to introduce students to up-to-date literary and cinematic developments in France, and Francophonie, give students the opportunity to learn about the recent issues in French culture and society and develop their skills in oral and written French. Taught in French (presentations and papers may be written in English).

FILM THEORY & CRITICISM (FM3027)

What precisely is cinema’s relationship to reality and the real world? Is cinema a form of art, an escapist mode of entertainment, or a means of ideological control? In what ways have technological developments impacted filmmaking and its cultural, social and political functions? This course explores enduring questions of film theory: the history of ideas concerning cinema as medium of art, entertainment and technology, and the multifaceted effects films are claimed to have upon their spectators. The course will explore central debates about the nature of film and provide an opportunity to reflect on different—and often competing—theoretical frameworks. Students will read foundational writings of film theory, critically evaluate the conceptual underpinnings of key commentators, and discuss the validity of theoretical models through close analyses of seminal films.