ATS3583 - History and film: Nazi Germany and the Jewish Holocaust - 2018

This unit examines film as a source of historical evidence and inquiry, specifically exploring the historical, cultural, and ethical debates surrounding depictions of the Holocaust in film and other media. It considers the prospects of documenting and representing the Holocaust in a period marked by a decline in the numbers of living historical witnesses and survivors, but a proliferation of film and media portraying their experiences. Central to this unit are issues pertaining to the limits and possibilities of representing the Holocaust and to the larger challenges and opportunities of utilizing works of film and media as sources of history.

Students successfully completing this subject will be able to understand:

1. The nature of historical film and media in their various forms.
2. The criteria for assessing the merits of historical film and media, and the ways film and other media differ from other forms of historical representation.
3. The influence of film and media in the past and upon later historical understanding.
4. Ethical and historical considerations of the limits and possibilities of representing the Holocaust in particular and genocide and trauma more generally in film and media.
5. The ways in which film and media can extend and challenge our understanding of history as a discourse.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Jewish studies

Holocaust and genocide studies

History

Film and screen studies