VSA2220

Alternative film and video

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

Constantine Verevis

8 points
* 4 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisite: At least one of VSA1040, VSA1050, or VSA2190

Objectives By the completion of this subject students will be expected to recognise that alternative film must be understood in relation to mainstream or dominant film practice; identify a material, social and political difference between historically specific moments of alternative (avant-garde, experimental or independent) film theory and practice; identify `political modernism' of the sixties and seventies as a discursive field produced by specific practices of film criticism and associated institutions; translate this formulation of political modernism into a more contemporary engagement of film practice with theory and the aesthetic characteristics of (post)modernism.

Synopsis This subject raises questions of filmic form, aesthetics and politics to consider a heterogeneous body of film, one that is considered `alternative' - avant-garde, experimental, independent - in relation to dominant cultural practice and value. Recognising that these alternatives are materially and historically contingent, Alternative Film and Video begins by considering `new American cinema' of the sixties (Brakhage, Snow, Warhol) and European `counter-cinema' of the seventies (Godard, Mulvey and Wollen) in relation to a discourse of political modernism. Acknowledging a shift in the relationship between (post)modern aesthetics and industrial product, the latter part of the subject considers a more recent engagement of alternative film theory and practice through an examination of Thatcherism (Frears, Leigh), nationalism (Jarman, Greenaway) and post-colonialism (Trinh, Moffat).

Assessment Essay (2000 words): 35%
* Essay (3000 words): 45%
* Visual test (1 hour): 20%

Recommended texts

James D Allegories of cinema Princeton U P, 1989
MacDonald S A critical cinema vols 1 and 2, U California P, 1982 and 1988
Rodowick D The crisis of political modernism U Illinois P, 1988