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2016/17 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ITAL3110 Italian Cinemas/Italian Histories

20 creditsClass Size: 20

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

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

Pre-requisite qualifications

Good understanding of Italian

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

What are the modes, genres and registers in which Italian cinema has dealt with the history of Italy? The discipline of history has traditionally been sceptical of historical cinema: complaints about factual inaccuracy or 'melodramatic' manipulation are familiar. Film scholarship has also been ambivalent about treating cinema as a vehicle for historical understanding because of the risk of dealing with film as a 'transparent' medium. Even historians and film scholars sympathetic to historical film posit exclusive categories of films considered 'properly' historical, and thereby transpose the traditional suspicion of historical film to less favoured forms of cinema, deplored as 'costume drama', 'romance' etc. We will analyse and challenge this approach, and we will rethink the relationship of Italian cinema to the history of Italy from a descriptive and analytical rather than from a prescriptive and paternalistic perspective.The module will be taught in English and all films chosen will be subtitled (or dubbed!) in English. Previous experience of film or media studies is not essential, though it would be wise to prepare for the course with some study of film analysis.

Objectives

This module will investigate some of the ways in which Italian cinema has dealt with the history of Italy. It is intended to introduce students to key theories of history on film and to test and sometimes challenge these theories by applying them to a variety of Italian films. It is also intended to challenge the common sense 'deviation from fact/historical record' discourse typical around historical cinema. The key objective is to allow students to rethink the relationship of Italian cinema to the history of Italy from a descriptive and analytical rather than prescriptive and paternalistic perspective.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students will have gained a critical awareness of theories of film and history.
They will have become familiar with a variety of approaches to the representation of history in Italian cinema.
They will be able to apply their knowledge and analytical skills to historical films from other cinemas.

Syllabus

The course will cover a selection of Italian films (six to eight) which employ a variety of modes (realism, epic, comedy, melodrama etc.) to deal with Italian history. These will be compared to films from other traditions (e.g. Hollywood and Bollywood). We will study theories of historical film by commentators like Pierre Sorlin, Robert Rosenstone, Robert Burgoyne and Marnie Hughes-Warrington and recent work on Italian historical cinema by writers like Aine O'Healy and Christian Uva.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	10	2.00	20.00
Private study hours			180.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Private and group study, reading of texts and film viewing, preparation for general class discussion: 120 hours
- Preparation and writing of two assessed essays: 50 hours
- Preparation for in-class presentations: 10 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will be monitored firstly 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 type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	2,000 words	50.00
Essay	2,000 words	50.00
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: 13/09/2016

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