FAVz048 Hollywood and the World

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2015
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Peter Krämer (lecturer), doc. Mgr. Pavel Skopal, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Luděk Havel, Ph.D. (assistant)
Mgr. Jan Trnka, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Petr Szczepanik, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: doc. Mgr. Petr Szczepanik, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 120 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/120, only registered: 0/120, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/120
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to analyze Hollywood blockbuster movies, understand the role of Hollywood in the contemporary mediascape, and discuss Hollywood movie production in the context of globalization and its ethics.
Syllabus
  • In recent years, there has been an ever intensifying public debate about the huge challenges confronting humanity, most notably the threat of global warming and demands for global justice. One of the preconditions for meeting these challenges, it has been argued, is what one might call global consciousness, that is the ability to conceive of, identify with and care for humanity as a whole. What role might Hollywood play in this? Hollywood films are seen all around the world, and they also draw on resources (people, source material, locations, finance) from many countries. What is more, they often tell stories about events affecting all of humanity. How do such films, then, relate to public debates about global challenges and to the ideal of a global consciousness? Do they approach these debates and this ideal from a narrowly American perspective? What is known about the impact of Hollywood films within and outside the US? Is Hollywood storytelling conducive to the idea of personal, social and political change?
  • This lecture series begins to address these questions with reference to some of Hollywood’s biggest international hits of recent decades, notably James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). While taking the analysis of Hollywood’s global operations and of the themes and reception of particular films as a starting point, the lecture series also goes beyond the disciplinary framework of Film Studies, in particular by raising the issue of global ethics: What are our ethical responsibilities as film scholars and as citizens with regards to the global challenges of today? and as citizens with regards to the global challenges of today?
  • Tuesday 7 April
  • 12.30 -13.30 Lecture 1: Hollywood’s Global Imagination 13.30 -14.30 Discussion 1: Responses to Avatar / Box Office Hit Patterns 15.30 -16.30 Lecture 2: The Importance of Science Fiction 16.30 -19.00 Screening 2: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, 140 min), with a brief introduction
  • Wednesday 8 April
  • 11.00 - 12.00 Discussion 2: Responses to 2001 / Box Office Hit Patterns 12.00 - 13.00 Lecture 3: A Short History of Global Hollywood 14.00 - 15.30 Discussion 3: The Hero’s Journey in Star Wars 16.00 - 17.00 Lecture 4: Notes on Oskar Schindler, Ethics and the Movies 17.00 – 18.00 Discussion 4: Responses to Schindler’s List
  • Thursday 9 April
  • 9.00 – 10.00 Lecture 5: Film Studies, Politics and Everyday Life 10.30 -11.30 Screening 5: A Message from Pandora (2010, 20min, from the Extended Collector’s Edition DVD of Avatar) plus other material 11.30 - 12.25 Discussion 5: Responses to this Course Consider the reading for this session, and ask yourself how the films and issues we have discussed in this course may be connected to, indeed could conceivably have an impact on, your life outside the university. 16.00 - 18.00 Seminar: Researching Hollywood and the World - Issues, Concepts, Sources
  • Reading For Lecture/Discussion 1: Peter Krämer, “Hollywood and its Global Audiences: A Comparative Study of the Biggest Box Office Hits in the United States and Outside the United States Since the 1970s”, Explorations in New Cinema History: Approaches and Case Studies, ed. Richard Maltby, Daniel Biltereyst and Philippe Meers, Oxford: Blackwell, 2011, pp. 171-84 For Lecture/Discussion 2: Peter Krämer, “’Dear Mr. Kubrick’: Audience Responses to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the Late 1960s”, Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, vol. 6, no. 2 (November 2009), ISSN 17498716 http://www.participations.org/Volume%206/Issue%202/special/kramer.htm For Lecture/Discussion 3: Christopher Vogler, “Introduction”/”A Practical Guide”, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters, London: Boxtree, 1996, pp. 3-31 For Lecture/Discussion 4: Peter Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalization, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004 (2nd edition), pp. 150-95 For Lecture/Discussion 5: Rachelle K. Gould, Nicole M. Ardoin and Jennifer K. Hashimoto, “Transposing the Conversation into Popular Idiom: The Reaction to Avatar in Hawai’i”, Avatar and Nature Spirituality, ed. Bron Taylor, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2013, pp. 95-122
Teaching methods
Lectures and one seminar.
Assessment methods
Preliminary test (first day of the lectures) and final test (during exams period).
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Information on completion of the course: Full time students: 100% presence at the lectures is required. Distance students: two absences are tolerated.
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: in blocks.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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