FAVh066 Cinema and City

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. et Mgr. Terézia Porubčanská, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. et Mgr. Terézia Porubčanská, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Wed 10:00–13:40 C34, except Mon 21. 4. to Sun 27. 4., except Wed 7. 5., except Wed 21. 5.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
Cinema and the City is an interdisciplinary field of research that examines how film captures and shapes our understanding of urban spaces, identities, and social dynamics. The city in film can be not only a backdrop or setting for the story but often an active protagonist that reflects historical, political, and cultural changes. This course focuses on the relationship between cinema and the city, exploring its diverse representations across genres, periods, and cultural contexts.
Students will acquire theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the city in film, as formulated by authors such as David B. Clarke, Henri Lefebvre, and Edward Soja. The course provides an overview of how film reflects the dynamics of modernity, urbanism, and the transformation of cities, presenting the city as a symbol of technological progress, a space of social conflict, or a subject of nostalgic reflection. At the same time, students will gain insight into the cultural and economic significance of cities as centers of film production and festival life.
The aim of the course is to develop critical thinking and interdisciplinary approaches that enable students to analyze films in the context of the socio-cultural and historical transformations of cities. Students will learn to identify the aesthetic and ideological functions of urban spaces in film, distinguish various modes of representation of cities in genres such as noir, dystopia, documentary, and experimental film, and explore the social movements that the city in film reflects. The course also fosters students' ability to conduct qualified academic discussions, formulate their own interpretations, and develop skills in working with visual analysis and theoretical texts.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of the Cinema and the City course, students will be able to:
- Understand and explain the relationship between urban space and cinema, including the historical, cultural, and sociological dimensions of this relationship.
- Identify and distinguish the various aesthetic, narrative, and ideological functions of urban environments in different film genres.
- Critically analyze films in terms of how they depict urban spaces and reflect the socio-economic and historical transformations of cities.
- Evaluate the role of the city as a site of production and a cultural center.
- Interpret and discuss social movements and conflicts in cities that are thematized in films.
- Develop the ability for independent critical reflection through writing academic essays, conducting analytical discussions in seminars, and practically applying acquired knowledge through individual and group projects focused on specific films, cities, and thematic areas.
Syllabus
  • 1. The City and Film – Introductory Lecture. The relationship between the city and cinema: how film represents the city and how the city influences film production. Methodologies for studying the city in film (David B. Clarke, *The Cinematic City*).
  • 2. The City That Inspires - The city as a symbol of modernity and technological progress: the 1920s and 1930s. Examples of urbanist visions and celebrations of the city in film.
  • 3. The City That Defines - The city as an aesthetic and narrative element in noir films: from architecture to lighting design.
  • 4. The City That Gets Angry - Exploring social movements and conflicts in urban spaces, reflecting issues of public space, identity, and resistance to social inequalities (gentrification, racial conflicts, automobilization).
  • 5. The City as a Threat - The city in apocalyptic visions and dystopian narratives.
  • 6. The City That Changes - Cities in the process of transformation: reconstruction, deindustrialization, and gentrification. Studying the city as a dynamic space.
  • 7. The City That Hosts- Film festivals as part of urban cultural life.
  • 8. The City That Serves - The city as a backdrop and production base for the film industry.
  • 9. The Cinematic City - Case studies: Brno Film Office, Prague Film Office. Urban film screenings and locations as tourist destinations.
  • 10. The City That Fascinates - Experimental films and documentaries focused on the city as the central subject. Analyzing the relationship between visual form and urban space.
  • 11. The City Across Time - The chronotope of the city: its historical layers and representations across different periods. Analyzing urban spaces in films throughout the decades.
  • 12. Conclusion: The City as a Palimpsest in Film - Summarization: the city as a palimpsest in film, with its multi-layered narratives and meanings.
Literature
  • The cinematic city. Edited by David B. Clarke. London: Routledge, 1997, ix, 252. ISBN 0415127467. info
  • Cinema and the city : film and urban societies in a global context. Edited by Mark Shiel - Tony Fitzmaurice. 1st publ. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001, xxi, 297 s. ISBN 0-631-22243-X. info
  • Mennel, B. (2019). Cities and Cinema (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351016193
  • BRUNSDON, Charlotte. London in cinema : the cinematic city since 1945. First published. London: British film institute, 2007, viii, 248. ISBN 9781844571826. info
  • SHIEL, Mark. Italian neorealism : rebuilding the cinematic city. London: Wallflower, 2006, 142 stran. ISBN 9781904764489. info
Teaching methods
The lecture series will introduce the fundamental theoretical and methodological frameworks for exploring the relationship between the city and cinema. Each session will combine lectures with interactive group assignments conducted in class, complemented by film screenings directly related to the theme of the lesson.
Assessment methods
The output of the course will be a final essay with a minimum length of 5 NS (9 000 characters including spaces). Students will produce an essay on one of the topics presented with a film(s) of their choice.
The essay must:
- meet the minimum length
- work with the theoretical-methodological concepts presented
- use the literature on the topic
- comply with the formal rules
Language of instruction
Czech
Study support
https://is.muni.cz/auth/el/phil/jaro2025/FAVh066/index.qwarp
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2026.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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