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2010/11 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ITAL3025 Italian Terrorisms/Italian Film

20 creditsClass Size: 20

Module manager: Alan O'Leary
Email: a.o'leary@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2010/11

Pre-requisite qualifications

A good knowledge of Italian, usually evidenced by completion of Level 2 Italian language modules.

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

- What is terrorism? Whatever it is, it is not new. Italy suffered nearly fifteen years of terrorist kidnappings, shootings and bombings during the 1970s and 1980s - an experience that inevitably had a massive and even traumatizing effect on Italian politics and society. - How did the society deal with the experience of terrorism and how does it continue to process the memory of it? - One of the ways it has done so is through the cinema (and through television dramas). In this course we study the most interesting films from nearly forty years of cinema and television, including cop thrillers, art-house films, political melodramas and TV mini-series. The close study of the Italian context will train you to be able to better understand how our own societies represent and work through the experience of terrorism in the audio-visual storytelling of television and film. This course will also teach you to better understand what we mean when we talk about terrorism - and perhaps teach you to be sceptical about how the term is conventionally employed.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should:
- have a good knowledge of the corpus of films which have dealt with the experience or the legacies of terrorism in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s
- be sensitive to the variety of approaches adopted by filmmakers, from genre and 'b' movies to TV to auteurist production
- evince a competence in treating issues and theories surrounding history and representation, trauma and collective memory, ideology and film form
- be in a position to apply this knowledge and awareness to other texts not covered in the course, including those from different national and cultural contexts.

The teacher of this module is a specialist on the representation of terrorism in Italian cinema; the course offers students a chance to benefit from this research and expertise.

Skills outcomes
On completion of this module, students should have significantly developed their ability to:
- understand the role of film and television drama in society;
- gather, evaluate and use information from secondary sources;
- show an awareness of and sensitivity towards the ways in which historical episodes impact on contemporary society;
- relate historical events to cultural developments;
- communicate effectively, both orally and in writing;
- use IT effectively, both as a means of communication and as an aid to learning;
- take personal responsibility for their own learning.


Syllabus

The course will begin with an introduction to key issues and the history of terrorism in Italy since the foundation of the state and especially during the 1970s. Following an overview of the body of films as a whole, it will divide the corpus of films into six periods covering the years from 1969 until the present day, so that we will study those films made during the terrorist period (and during the so-called First republic) and those films made after the anni di piombo (and after the collapse of the postwar political system in 1994).

One or two films will be chosen as a focus for each period, but students will be expected to have seen a range of other films in order to contextualize and properly appreciate the core texts. Students will also be expected to prepare a limited amount of secondary reading for class.

Class 1: 'Terrorism' and politically-motivated violence: controversies, definitions and histories
Class 2: Terrorisms in the unified Italy and the anni di piombo (years of lead) c. 1969-1984
Class 3: The corpus of films: introduction to periods, genres and approaches
Class 4: Proximity (a): Tragedy, Italian style. La polizia ringrazia (Stefano Vanzina 1972)
Class 5: Proximity (b): The Oedipal model: Caro papà (Dino Risi, 1979)
Class 6: The Aldo Moro kidnapping: Il caso Moro (Giuseppe Ferrara 1986)
Class 7: The context of pentitismo: Segreti segreti (Giuseppe Bertolucci 1984)
Class 8: Il dopo terrorismo: La seconda volta (Mimmo Calopresti 1996)
Class 9: The heritage of terror: La meglio gioventù (Marco Tullio Giordana 2003)
Class 10: Histories of the present: Arrivederci amore, ciao (Michele Soavi 2006)
Class 11: Revision lesson.

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Seminar112.0022.00
Private study hours178.00
Total Contact hours22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)200.00

Private study

- Private study, reading of texts, preparation for general class discussion: 128 hours
- Preparation and writing of two assessed essays: 44 hours
- Preparation for presentation: 6 hours.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will be monitored through their participation in class (particularly in group work), secondly through their class presentations, and thirdly through their performance in the first essay.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
Essay2,000 words45.00
Essay2,000 words45.00
PresentationIn seminar5.00
Tutorial PerformanceGeneral participation throughout the module5.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 13/04/2011

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