FAVK019 Post-Classical Hollywood: Seminar

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2009
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Pavel Skopal, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jiří Voráč, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Sat 10:50–12:25 C34
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Seminar analysis of style and narration in Hollywood cinema in connection to lecture Contemporary Hollywood Cinema: Classical or Post-classical? They will be aimed at congretisation of the statement about a discontinuity between classical and post-classical Hollywood. Main objectives can be summarized as follows: to learn the actual discussion on choosen topics; to practice analytical thinking and critical reflection on choosen texts; to learn certain approaches to analysis
Syllabus
  • I. Classical Hollywood: reading: Raymond Bellour: The Obvious and the Code; André Bazin: Vývoj westernu, in: Co je to film, Praha 1979; Dudley Andrew: Film in the Aura of Art. Princeton, 1986 Movies: The Big Sleep; Stagecoach; Mr. Smith goes to Wahsington II. post-classicism: reading: Elsaesser – Buckland: Classical/post-classical narrative, in: Studying Contemporary American Film. London 2002; Warren Buckland: A close encounter with Raiders of the Lost Ark: notes on narrative aspects of the New Hollywood blockbuster. In: Steve Neale - Murray Smith: Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. London - New York, 1998; Gianluca Sergi: A cry in the Dark: the role of post-classical film sound. In: Steve Neale - Murray Smith: Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. London - New York, 1998. Movies: Smrtonosná past; indiana Jones a dobyvatelé ztracené archy; Uprchlík III. narration: reading: Kristin Thompson: Storytelling in the New Hollywood. Understanding Classical Narrative Technique. Harvard UP, 1999; Sean Cubitt: The Cinema Effect. Cambridge, 2004; David Bordwell: Film Futures. Substance, č. 1, 2002; Edward Branigan: Nearly True: Forking Plots, Forking Interpretations. Substance č. 1, 2002. Movies: Na Hromnice o den více; Šestý smysl; IV. style: reading: Barry Salt: Moving into pictures. More on film history, style, and analysis. London 2006; David Bordwell: Widescreen esthetics and mise-en-scene criticism. In: velvet light trap č. 21; Steve Neale: Widescreen composition in the age of television. In: Neale - Smith (eds.), Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. London - New York, 1998; Elsaesser-Buckland, Mise-en-scene criticism and statistical style analysis. in: Studying Contemporary American Film. London 2002. Movies: The English Patient V. genre, pastiche, nostalgia: reading: Fredric Jameson: Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism; Richard Dyer: Pastiche: Knowing Imitation; Ingeborg Hoesterey: Pastiche: cultural memory in art, film, literature; Paul Grainge, Colouring the past: Pleasantville and the textuality of media memory. In: Grainge (ed.), Memory and popular film; Julian Stringer: The China had never been used! On patina of perfect images in Titanic. In: Sandler - Studlar (eds.), Titanic. Anatomy of a blockbuster. Movies: Far from Heaven; Pleasantville; Titanic VI. distribution, exhibition, promotion, marketing: reading: Jeff Smith: Selling my heart. Music and cross-promotion. in: Sandler - Studlar (eds.), Titanic. Anatomy of a blockbuster; Kristin Thompson: Frodo Franchise. How The Lord of the Rings became a Hollywood Blockbuster and put New Zealand on the Map. Penguin Books, 2007 movies: Lord of the Rings, Titanic VII. "smart cinema", independent cinema: reading: Jeffrey Sconce, Irony, Nihilism, and the American smart film. Screen 43, č. 4. movies: Ghost World VIII. reception: reading: Martin Barker - Ernest Mathijs (eds.), Watching Lord of the Rings. Tolkien s World Audiences. Peter Lang, 2007; Ernest Mathijs: Lord of the Rings: Popular Culture in Global Context; Ernest Mathijs - Murray Pomerance (eds.), From Hobbits to Hollywood. Essays on Peter Jackson s Lord of the Rings. Rodopi, 2006 movies: Lord of the Rings, Titanic
Literature
  • Elsaesser – Buckland: Studying Contemporary American Film. London 2002
  • Steve Neale - Murray Smith: Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. London - New York, 1998
  • ristin Thompson: Storytelling in the New Hollywood. Understanding Classical Narrative Technique. Harvard UP, 1999
Assessment methods
credit: presence in the seminar: at least 80%; each absence would be compensated by 5 pages long summary of the text for the seminar; participation in the discussion; abstract from a text for a seminar; essay - 5 pages, film analysis.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Information on completion of the course: Písemný test
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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