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Sociological Cinema - JLB059

Title:	Sociological Cinema
Guaranteed by:	Centre for Language Learning and Pedagogical Training (23-KJP)
Faculty:	Faculty of Social Sciences
Actual:	from 2025
Semester:	winter
E-Credits:	3
Examination process:	winter s.:
Hours per week, examination:	winter s.:0/2, C [HT]
Capacity:	unknown / 16 (16)
Min. number of students:	unlimited
4EU+:	no
Virtual mobility / capacity:	no
State of the course:	taught
Language:	English
Teaching methods:	full-time
Note:	course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan

Guarantor:	Mgr. Dagmar Štěpánková
Teacher(s):	Mgr. Dagmar Štěpánková
Class:	Courses for incoming students

WS schedule Noticeboard

Annotation -

Sociological Cinema is an optional course provided by Language Centre.
The short module explores social issues presented in films from a sociological perspective.
The module has been designed primarily for students of sociology who have passed the exam in English for Sociology.
Exchange students are welcome.

Last update: STEPANKD (08.09.2025)

Aim of the course -

There are two main learning objectives of the course:

1) The course aims to improve students’ listening comprehension, develop students’ ability to share their opinions in discussions and in response papers.

2) The course enhances a sociological understanding of cinema and the way cinema deals with sociological themes and engages the public in reflection on society.

Last update: STEPANKD (08.09.2025)

Course completion requirements -

Credits will be earned by active involvement in discussions and four written response papers reflecting the film (ca 500 words each).

Unless assigned differently, the response should include:

1) The film’s ID title, director, released in…

2) …set in place and time

3) Identify social issues; major, minor; obvious, less obvious

4) Choose one/some and write about it/ them (Give example/examples of specific scenes)

5) Are any of these issues relevant to your culture today?

6) What have you realised as a result of seeing the film, what questions has the piece raised for you?

Reponse papers should be sent by email by the end of the week following the screening.

Last update: STEPANKD (02.09.2024)

Literature -

8 October	Education (2020) UK television production, directed by Steve McQueen Part of the Black British anthology series Small Axe, tells the story of how hundreds of children were taken out of mainstream schools and sent to Educationally Subnormal Schools (ESN schools) in the 1970s
22 October	This Is England (2006) UK drama written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in the English Midlands in 1983, in the context of the Falklands Conflict.
5 November	Belfast (2021), written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, and based on true story events from his childhood. The film is set against The Troubles, or the tumultuous phase of ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that started in the late 1960s and lasted till the late nineties.
19 November	Vinyl Generation (2016), CZ-US documentary by Keith Jones. It explores how an emerging generation in 1980s Czechoslovakia developed their attitudes and opinions outside of the official system through alternative culture
3 December	Do the Right Thing (1989) US comedy-drama written and directed by Spike Lee. a Brooklyn neighborhood’s simmering racial tension, which culminates in violence .
17 December	Blinded by the Light (2019) In England in 1987, a teenager from an Asian family learns to live his life, understand his family,Á and find his own voice through the music of American rock star Bruce Springsteen.

Last update: STEPANKD (08.09.2025)

Teaching methods -

Sessions will be held once in two weeks (from 5 pm on Wednesdays 8 Oct, 22 Oct, 5 Nov, 19 Nov, and 3 Dec, and 17 Dec.) and will be about an hour longer than the film itself.

There will be no class on 17 November, but a film will be available for students to stream.

The films will be shown in English with English subtitles.

Each session, there will be a short introduction of the film and a pre-watching activity. The screenings will be followed by a discussion with Keith Jones.

Hybrid learning is not planned.

The course is provided by the Language Center, and one of its goals is to develop productive language skills, both speaking and academic writing.

Students should submit their written responses no later than ONE week after watching the film, so that both teachers have time to review them and add their comments.

We expect and look forward to original opinions and personal observations from students, which do not have to be in flawless English. We are always interested in whether and how the writing skills of individual students improve over the course of the semester. We do not want responses generated by artificial intelligence.

On the other hand, we recognize that certain artificial intelligence applications are useful tools that can help you edit your written grammar. If you do so, please acknowledge this in a note. And don't forget to compare both texts, your original and the one edited by artificial intelligence. You can learn from this as well.

Last update: STEPANKD (24.09.2025)