CMAa14 Research in Cinema and Theatre History

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. MgA. David Drozd, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Pavel Skopal, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Pavel Skopal, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
ROCNIK(2)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The objective of the course is to establish a solid knowledge of methodological procedures and theoretical concepts that will enable students to ask proper research questions, as well as to build up a relevant research’s profile in the field of cinema and theatre history. All of the methodological approaches and conceptual frameworks will be illustrated in details on exemplary research projects and their findings.
Learning outcomes
After finishing this course, students will be able to critically evaluate and use a range of theoretical concepts to formulate quality research hypotheses, will be oriented in paradigmatic literature related to the presented research areas, will be ready to prepare and realize a relevant research project from the field of the cultural history of cinema and theatre.
Syllabus
  • 1. Cinema history as cultural history.
  • An overview of cultural history approaches. Research projects on cinema history inspired by cultural history. Individual and collective actors in historical research: collective biography (prosopography) and inidividual biography.
  • 2. Understanding Pierre Bourdieu and Theory of Field
  • 3. Pierre Bourdieu in Theatre Studies
  • 4. Michael Baxandall and Forth Bridge
  • 5. Film production studies and ethnography
  • 6. Ethnographical research in cinema production - the case study of a film school and film festival
  • 7. Social Network Analysis: what is SNA good for? Introduction into SNA and its terminology. Social Network Analysis in film and media studies
  • 8. Introduction to Gephi
  • network analysis and visualisation software
  • 9. Cultural Transfer and Agency
  • Introduction to the essential concepts of agency and structures. Explanation of the "cultural transfer" concept as an alternative to the unproductive idea of "influence". Case Studies from Cinema History. How can we do research on producers, directors, managers, dramaturges, or cinema owners? Research that avoids the limits of a descriptive biography needs to take into account that structural factors substantially limit a historical agent and his capacity to act depends on the available capital. Concepts of William H. Sewell and Pierre Bourdieu will be presented and applied to the research of the cinema industry and theatre culture
  • 10. Changes in Theatre Studies
  • 11. Pavis and intercultural theatre
  • 12. Reconstructing historical event (Postleweit)
Literature
    required literature
  • Jeffrey Klenotic: “Like Nickels in a Slot”: Children of the American Working Classes at the Neighborhood Movie House”. The Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film and Television, vol. 48, Fall 2001, pp. 20-33
  • Fischer-Lichte, E., Riley, J., & Gissenwehrer, M. (1990). The dramatic touch of difference: Theatre, own and foreign. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
  • BALME, Christopher B. The globalization of theatre 1870-1930 : the theatrical networks of Maurice E. Bandmann. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, xiv, 276. ISBN 9781108487894. info
    not specified
  • Peter Burke, The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy. Peter Burke. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986
Teaching methods
Opening discussion over the assigned reading; lecture presenting basic thesis through PowerPoint presentation, discussing application through examples of implemented research projects.
Assessment methods
Brief tests checking the knowledge of seminar reading and understanding of the lecture – 30 points; final written test – 40 points; an outline of a research project – 30 points. To pass the exam, the student has to reach the score of 60% in each of the three categories (i.e., the minimum of 18, 24, and 18 points in the respective tests). Reaching the minimum of 18 points in tests written during the semester at the lectures is a prerequisite for writing both the final exam and the research project.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/CMAa14