Visions of the past: History in Hollywood and European cinemas (P01470)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : LLC-P-P01470

This course will focus on the representation of history in cinema.

Although it is an invention of the twentieth century, cinema is one of the main art forms through which our fascination for the past is expressed. The medium's specific capacity for 'verisimilitude', as well as its power to capture and replay images in movement, to 'embalm' the present, as Bazin puts it, has fostered its unique relationship to history.

Through an analysis of Hollywood epics, European Heritage films, costume dramas and adaptations as well as visions of the past offered in alternative-modernist or avant-garde cinema, the course will look at a wide array of film forms, genres, as well as narrative and representational strategies at play in cinematic treatments of history. As such, it will offer a framework for discussions on issues of historical 'truth'; authenticity and cultural dominance; representation and identities (individual, collective, national and trans-national); discourse and ideology (race, gender, class, colonialism and post-colonialism), which are at the heart of recent debates on history, culture and film.

The following sample of titles exemplifies the variety of films or genres that could be discussed as part of the option The grapes of Wrath and My Darling Clementine (Ford, 19 40 and 1946, U.S); The Ten Commandments, (B DeMille, 1956, US.); The Virgin Spring (Bergman, 1959, Sweden), Hiroshima Mon Amour (Resnais, 1959, Fr), The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (Straub and Huillet, 1968, Ger.), Lacombe Lucien (Malle, 1972, Fr), Amarcord (Fellini, 1974), The Man of Marble (Andrzej Wajda, 1977), The Return of Martin Guerre (Vigne, 1982, Fr), Wings of Desire, (Wenders, 1988), Orlando, (Potter, 1993, UK), Schindler's List (Spielberg, 1993, US.), Beau Travail (Denis, 2000, Fr).

? Keywords : Film History Representation

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Common Courses (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures), (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	10:00	12:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

The students will gain an understanding of the formal and theoretical issues at stake in the representation of history in film. They will be able to conduct creative comparative analysis of the work of European and non-European filmmakers and will be familiar with the work of a selection of filmmakers.