Memory, History and Cinema - JJM238

• Anglický název: Memory, History and Cinema
• Zajišťuje: Katedra mediálních studií (23-KMS)
• Fakulta: Fakulta sociálních věd
• Platnost: od 2017
• Semestr: letní
• E-Kredity: 6
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: letní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: letní s.:1/1, Zk [HT]
• Počet míst: neurčen / neurčen (30)
• Minimální obsazenost: neomezen
• 4EU+: ne
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
• Stav předmětu: nevyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán; povolen pro zápis po webu; při zápisu přednost, je-li ve stud. plánu
• Garant: PhDr. Radim Hladík, Ph.D.

Anotace

Poslední úprava: PhDr. Radim Hladík, Ph.D. (18.02.2016)

Scholars like Robert A. Rosenstone have pointed out that filmmakers often engage with the past much like academic historians do: they tell us stories about it. Feature films set in the past, i.e. the genre of historical films, may have fictional plots, yet they still render the past visually and their narratives provide frameworks for understanding it. In other words, with historical films, history is always a part of the story. In this course, we will examine the idea of cinema as a historiographic or memory medium in its own right. The course is structured so that in the first half of the semester the key notions addressing the cinema’s representational capacity for history are covered through theoretical readings. Students should learn how to use proper analytical vocabulary and identify core problems of historical films. In the second half of the semester, several of the notions will illustrate by examples of cinematic works. Critical spectatorship will be encouraged. Students are expected to apply the acquired theory to concrete issues of cinematic representation of the past.

In terms of skills, this course is focused not on filmmaking, but on developing academic expertise, such as scholarly reading comprehension, critical spectatorship and thinking, essay writing, and argumentation. However, on the substantive side, a student should learn about the issues of representation of the past by cinematic means. Although the course is not intended as training in practical filmmaking, it aspires to aid in facilitating the development of good filmmakers by fostering in-depth reflection on the possibilities of cinema as a storytelling medium. It will also stress the concomitant responsibility of filmmakers as historians - or historians as filmmakers.

Podmínky zakončení předmětu

Poslední úprava: PhDr. Radim Hladík, Ph.D. (10.08.2016)

All students are kindly requested to set up a Schoology account here and sign up for the course (the enrollment code is distributed at the first lesson). The Schoology environment will be used to disseminate information, submit assignments etc.

 

Attendance: 10 points

Because this is an elective course, attendance is expected. Students are allowed to have two absences. Barring unforeseen circumstances, students should notify the instructor in advance. Exceptional circumstances will be considered, but additional work will be required.

 

Participation: 5 points

Students will be expected to contribute to in-class discussions.

 

Reading and viewing responses: 30 points

Prior to each reading and after each screening, students are asked to respond to a question related to the assignment and posted on the course's site. There will be 10 questions with up to 3 points for each.

 

Midterm test: 15 points

A short test will be administered after the reading section of the course is finished to assess the grasp of the assigned material.

 

Essay: 40 points

To complete the course, a student must comply with the attendance and participation requirements and write a 2-3 pages-long paper on a course-related topic, such as an analysis of a historical film of their choice (a consultation is advisable) or a contemplation of the relation between history, memory, and cinema. The essay can also attempt to use the perspective of the course for a reflection on student's own project as a chapter for the final thesis.

 

Grades: counted from 100 total points

100-90 - 1 (A)

89-75 - 2 (B,C)

74-60 - 3 (D,E)

60 < Fail

Literatura

Poslední úprava: PhDr. Radim Hladík, Ph.D. (18.02.2016)

Guynn, William. Writing History in Film. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.

Jarvie, Ian C. "Seeing Through Movies." Philosophy of the Social Sciences 8, no. 4 (1978): 374-97. doi:10.1177/004839317800800404.

Kaes, Anton. From Hitler to Heimat: The Return of History as Film. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989.

Radstone, Susannah. "Trauma and Screen Studies: Opening the Debate." Screen 42 (2001): 188-93. doi:Article.

Rosenstone, Robert A. History on Film/Film on History. White Plains: Longman, 2006.

---. Visions of the Past : The Challenge of Film to Our Idea of History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Sylabus

Poslední úprava: PhDr. Radim Hladík, Ph.D. (18.02.2016)

1. Introduction: memory, history, cinema

 

2. Historians and historical films

Davis, N. Z. 2003. "Movie or Monograph? A Historian/Filmmaker’s Perspective." The Public historian 25(3):45.

 

3. Writing vs. showing (hi)story

White, Hayden. "Historiography and Historiophoty." The American Historical Review 93.5 (1988): 1193-1199.

 

4. Research, costume drama, experiment

Rosen, Philip. Change Mummified: Cinema, Historicity, Theory. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. (Selections)

 

5. Politics of historical films, nostalgia, trauma

Foucault, Michel. "Film and Popular Memory." In Foucault Live: Interviews, 1966-84, 89-106. New York: Semiotext(e), 1989.

 

6. Other uses: historiography and pedagogy

Marcus, Alan S. "" It is as it was": Feature film in the history classroom." The Social Studies 96.2 (2005): 61-67.

 

 

MIDTERM test

 

7. Useful inventions

Screening: Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989)

 

8. Historical character and memory

Screening: The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)

 

9. Reflexivity

Screening: Walker (Alex Cox, 1987)

 

10. Czechoslovak history: take one

Screening: Riders in the Sky (Jindřich Polák, 1968)

 

11. Czechoslovak history: take two

Screening: Dark Blue World (Jan Svěrák, 2001)

 

12. Final class: Review