CTCS 403: Studies in National and Regional Cinema

CTCS 403: Studies in National and Regional Cinema: Post-Wall European Media

Fall 2008

W 9:00-12:50, RZC 111

Instructor: Anikó Imre E-mail:

Office Hours: M 9-10 W 1-2, LUC 411

TA: Amelia Guimarin

Description and Goals:

CTCS 403 investigates traditions, achievements, and trends of film and media in a particular country or region. It focuses on issues of national and cultural identity, genre, aesthetics, industry, spectatorship, or on particular themes. This fall, we will track cinematic and other media trends in contemporary Europe and its peripheries, with an emphasis on globalization, migration and identities.

Since 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, globalization has accelerated around the world. Europe – as a geopolitical entity as well as an idea – has been affected with particular intensity. The European Union has expanded its borders to incorporate some of the former Soviet satellite countries. At the same time, the end of the Cold War reignited national, ethnic, religious and regional affiliation, most violently in the course of the post-Yugoslav wars. These changes have set in motion large-scale migrations and have thrown Europe into a state of intense transformation.

The films and other media texts we will discuss this fall help us analyze this European identity crisis. The issues we will discuss, however, are not specific to Europe: the changing world order is thoroughly interwoven with globally converging transnational media forms and technologies. In a similar vein, mass migration, anxieties about borders, the resurgence of nationalism, the prominence of memory and nostalgia, and the war on terror are globally linked phenomena.

Readings:

Weekly readings are available on Blackboard under “Course Documents”. You can download and print out each article at your convenience. Please bring the readings to class when they are due for discussion.

Requirements

1. Film Reviews

I will ask you to turn in 6 reviews. Each review will discuss two films or television shows together. This means that you will have to identify some points of comparison between the two texts. These points can be thematic, industrial, aesthetic or theoretical. In the review, you can also refer to other films or media texts; but the bulk of the review should deal with the two texts in focus. The review should include the following: (1) a brief introduction of the film plots and socio-economic conditions of production, distribution and exhibition (e.g. it might be relevant to mention whether they are were produced in cooperation, whether they have been successful in the festival circuit or on (trans)national television networks, etc.); (2) an analysis that compares the two films along the axis of your choice. The bulk of the review should be devoted to the analysis. In this part, draw on class discussions and cite relevant readings. The review should also contain a brief evaluation (3), which explains why you would (not) recommend the film to specific audiences. Each review should be about 500 words= 2 double-spaced pages in 12-point font, 1-inch margins, Times New Roman. Please bring hard copies of these reviews to class on their due date.

2. Participation

Active contribution to in-class work:

This is a collaborative class, where much of the learning material will come from what we produce together. You will need to be present, prepared, and engaged in order to benefit the most from the course. In-class work will count towards your participation grade.

3. Group Teaching Project

Since this is an advanced and elective course, I would like you to take increasing ownership for the success of the class and for your own learning as we proceed through the semester. To conclude this process, I will ask you to teach the last two sessions of the course in groups of three or four. Each group will select a topic central to the theme of post-Wall European media, and draw upon their preparation to have the rest of the class critically and analytically process new information. These last sessions will be planned and coordinated entirely by student leaders. Groups will need to provide us with visual material using the media of their choice, and readings (one or two articles) electronically, or in hard copy, one week before their scheduled teaching session. They will also need to post questions and ideas on Blackboard at least three days before the date of their teaching session.

While the methods of facilitating discussion and other class activities are up to you, bear in mind that this is not a presentation. The emphasis is on engaging and teaching your classmates. By Monday, December 8, I will ask you to turn in your individual assessment of your contribution to these teaching sessions, including a list of sources consulted, your notes or other preparations for the teaching session, or collectively created media texts. This material, along with your performance during the teaching sessions, will provide the basis of your grade percentage for this portion of your course work. Do start thinking about possible topics and networking with potential collaborators early on. A list of suggestions is included at the end of the syllabus. I will meet with each group to discuss plans during the week before the teaching sessions.

Grading:

1. Six film reviews 6x8=48 points

2. Effective participation in class discussion: 26 points

3. Teaching project: 26 points

TOTAL: 100 points

Grading Scale:

A / 100-86
B / 85-70
C / 69-50
D / 49-30
E / Under 30

SCHEDULE

Topics, Activities, Assignments / Reading Due / Films screened
Week1
8/27 / Introductions. What/Where/Who is Europe? / Zentropa (Lars von Trier, 1991, 112 mins.)
Wk 2
9/3 / National, Transnational and Post-National European Media / Elsaesser, Thomas, “Double Occupancy: Space, Place and Identity in European Cinema of the 1990s” Third Text 83, vol. 20, issue 6, Nov. 2006, 647-658.
Galt, Rosalind, The New European Cinema, pp. 175-197.
Luisa Rivi, “Introduction: For an Imperfect Europe” pp. 1-8 in her European Cinema After 1989. / Lamerica (Gianni Amelio, 1994, 116 mins)
Wk 3
9/10 / Old and New Europe / Morley, David and Kevin Robins, Spaces of Identity. Chapter 1: “Globalisation as Identity Crisis.” 10-42.
Rivi, European Cinema pp. 115-122. / Good Bye Lenin (Wolfgang Becker, 2003, 121 mins)
Wk 4
9/17 / (N)ostalgia and Memory
First Review due, of Lamerica and Zentropa / Bach, Jonathan. “The Taste Remains: Consumption, (N)ostalgia, and the Production of East Germany.” Public Culture 14.3 (2002)
Loshitzky, Yosefa. “Constructing and Deconstructing the Wall.” CLIO 26:3, 1997: 275-296 / No Man’s Land (Danis Tanovic, 2001, 98 mins)
Wk 5
9/24 / War, History and Memory / Articles on No Man’s Land and other post-Yugoslav-war films:



Bjelic, Dusan. “Global Aesthetics and the Serbian Cinema of the 1990s.” in Imre, ed. East European Cinemas: 103-120. / Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, 2002, 97 mins)
Wk 6
10/1 / Fortress Europe
Second review due, of Good Bye Lenin and No Man’s Land / Gibson, Sarah. “’The Hotel Business is About Strangers: Border Politics and Hospitable Spaces in Stephen Frears’s Dirty Pretty Things.” Third Text 20:6, Nov. 2006: 693-702.
Loshitzky, Yosefa, “Journeys of Hope to Fortress Europe.” Third Text 20:6, Nov. 2006, 745-754. / Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005, 117 mins.)
Wk 7
10/8 / Postcolonial Europe / Rivi, European Cinema After 1989: pp. 111-114.
Christopher Sharrett, “Michael Haneke and the Discontents of European Culture”
[Access article in HTML][Access article in PDF] / In July (Fatih Akin, 2000, 99 mins)
Wk 8
10/15 / Hybridity and Mobility
Third Review, of Dirty Pretty Thingsand Caché / Stan Jones, “Turkish-German Cinema Today” in Rings and Morgan-Tamosunas, eds. European Cinema: Inside-Out: 75-91.
Verstraete, Ginette, “Mobilities” / Flowers of Another World (Iciar Bollain, 1999, 108 mins.)
Wk 9
10/22 / Immigrant Identities / Parvarti Nair, "In Modernity's Wake: Transculturality, Deterritorialization and the Question of Community in Iciar Bollain's Flores de Otro Mundo (Flowers from Another World)" Postscript 21.2 (Winter/Spring 2002)
Sassen, Saskia, “Europe’s Migrations: The Numbers and the Passions are Not New” Third Text 20.6 (Nov 2006): 635-645. / Ballykissangel (1996-2001, creator: Kieran Prendiville, BBC Northern Ireland, BBC, Ballykea, World Productions).
Wk 10
10/29 / Television in Europe: Public Service Broadcasting
Fourth Review, of IN July and Flowers of Another World, due / Collins, Richard. “Ises and Oughts: Public Service Broadcasting in Europe.” Robert C Allen and Annette Hill, Eds. The Television Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 2004.
Mark Wheeler, “Supranational Regulation: Television and the European Union.” European Journal of Communication (2004), Vol. 19:3: 349-369. / National Musical Idols, reality shows, Eurovision
Da Ali G Show
Wk 11
11/5 / Popular Transnational Television in Europe / Dogar, “For Decades, Americans Sold TV Programs…” Newsweek June 7, 1999.
Chalaby, “Transnational Television in Europe”
Van der Rijt et al, “Young People and Music Television in the Netherlands” European Journal of Communication 15.1 (2000): 79-91. / The District (2004. d. Áron Gauder)
Wk 12
11/12 / Europe and Hollywood
Fifth Review, on television / Elsaesser, Thomas. European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood. “European Cinema as World Cinema: A New Beginning?” 485-512.
Imre, “Play in the Ghetto: Global Entertainment and the European ‘Roma Problem’” Third Text 83 (20.6), Nov. 2006, 659-671. / Borat (Larry Charles, 2006, 84 mins.)
Da Ali G Show
Wk 13
11/19 / Europe and Hollywood / Lawson, Mark, “Why Baftas not make benefit glorious UK film?” The Guardian January 17, 2007.
Wk 14
11/26 / Groups teach class
Sixth Review due / Groups assign reading
Wk 15
12/3 / Groups teach class / Groups assign reading
12/8 / Group and Self-Evaluations due

Further Reading:

Cinema

Petrie, Duncan, ed. Screening Europe: Image and Identity in Contemporary European Cinema. 1992.

Elsaesser, Thomas. European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood. Amsterdam UP, 2005.

Pavle, Levi, Aesthetics and Ideology in the Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Cinema. Stanford UP, 2007.

Iordanova,, Dina. Cinema of Flames: Balkan Film, Culture and the Media. London: BFI Publishing, 2001.

Iordanova, Dina. Cinema of the Other Europe. 2003

Imre, Aniko, ed. East European Cinemas. London: Routledge, 2005.

Rivi, Luisa, ed. “Quo Vadis European Cinema?” Special issue of Spectator, 2004.

Mazierska, Eva and Laura Rascaroli, From Moscow to Madrid: Postmodern Cities, European Cinema. 2002

Mazierska and Rascaroli, Crossing New Europe: Postmodern Travel and the European Road Movie. 2006.

Television

Eli, Noam. Television in Europe. Oxford UP, 1992. [e-book]
Richardson, Kay and Ulrike Meinhof.Worlds in Common? Television Discourse in a Changing Europe. Routledge, 1999.

Sepstrup, Preben. Transnationalization of Television in Western Europe. London, 1990.

Kaid, Lunda Lee (ed) 1999. Television and Politics in Evolving European Democracies. Nova Science Publishers.

Media, General

Sparks, Colin. 1998. Communism, Capitalism and the Mass Media. London: Sage.

Casmir, Fred L (ed), 1995, Communication in Eastern Europe: the role of history, culture and media in contemporary conflicts. London: Erlbaum.

O’Neil, Patrick H. 1997. Post-Communism and the Media in Eastern Europe. Frank Cass.

Sparks, Colin and Anna Reading, 1997. Communism, Capitalism and the Media in Eastern Europe. L: Sage.

Splichal, Slavko. 1994. Media Beyond Socialism: Theory and Practie in East-Central Europe. Westview Press.

Giorgi, Liana, ed. 1995. The Post-Socialist Media: What Power the West? Aldershot: Avebury.

Lengel, Laura. Ed. 2000. Culture and Technology in the New Europe: Civic Discourse in Transformation in Post-communist Nations.

Identity

Neumann, Iver B. 1998. Uses of the Other. The East in European Identity Formation. U of Minnesota P.

Berezin and Schain, eds. Europe Without Borders: Remapping Territory, Citizenship, and Identity in a Transnational Age. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2003.

Sample themes and resources for group teaching sessions:

Children’s Media

Cities and regions, regional media

Tourism

Avant-garde and Animation:

Documentary and fiction

Genre Films

The European auteur

Art vs popular cinema

Food and Consumption

Consumerism

Music industry

European peripheries

Postcolonial Films

Media and sports

History and Heritage Movies

National cinemas

Game films

Media policy

Media (and) citizenship

The EU and technological surveillance

Gender, sexuality, ethnicity and the media