German cinema
Leonie Naughton
8 points or 12 points * First semester * Clayton * Prerequisites: VSA2190, two second-year visual arts subjects or at discretion of head of department
The postwar German cinema, most notably of the 1970s and 1980s, will provide the subject with its central emphasis. Attention will, however, be paid to the cinema of pre-Nazi Germany - to the work of expressionist filmmakers. The relationship between film culture and the state will be examined with reference to issues revolving around the construction of `national identity' and to theoretical proposals which have sought to establish links between the so-called collective psyche and national film produce. Provocative questions regarding the representation of history (in particular of Nazism and terrorism) and of sexuality will be raised by the new German films to be screened. Throughout the subject, the works of Lang, Von Sternberg, of postwar Autoren such as Kluge, Fassbinder and Wenders and feminist filmmakers will be analysed. Special study area: a textual analysis of a contemporary German film.
Assessment: 8 points
Seminar paper (2500 words): 40% * Essay (3500 words): 60%
Assessment: 12 points
Two essays (2500 words each): 70% * Special study paper (1000 words): 10% * Examination (1 hour): 20%
Prescribed texts
Elsaesser T New German cinema: A history Macmillan, 1989
Kracauer S From Caligari to Hitler Princeton UP, 1973
Rentschler E West German film in the course of time Redgrave, 1984