2008/09 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

CULT2003 Cinema and Culture

20 creditsClass Size: 34

Module manager: Griselda Pollock
Email: g.f.s.pollock@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2008/09

Pre-requisite qualifications

One or more of the following:
CULT1000 Introduction to Cultural Analysis 1
CULT1001 Introduction to Cultural Analysis 2
CULT1003 Film and History
or equivalent

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

This module provides an introduction to post-1968 film theory and examines the complex relationship between cinema and culture. It will discuss the key theoretical concepts integral to questions surrounding the social functioning of cinema, including semiotics, psychoanalysis, authorship, narrative, avant garde film, women's cinema and counter cinema. Lectures will concentrate on critical theory and film analyses, making detailed readings and setting out the main discourses surrounding the previous week's screenings. Seminars will be orientated toward discussion of the week's readings, visual analysis, and the research skills, terminologies and practices that are specific to reading cinematic texts. Theorists addressed will include Stephen Heath, Paul Willemen, Christian Metz, Raymond Bellour, E. Ann Kaplan, Peter Wollen, Laura Mulvey, Mary Ann Doane and Patricia Mellencamp. The films screened and discussed provide a representative selection relevant to the focus of the theoretical concepts addressed; films may include Das Cabinet Des Dr Caligari, M, Camille, The Big Sleep, The Searchers, The Birds, Jaws, The Piano, The Truman Show.Assessment: 1 x 2 hour exam (50%) and 1 x 2,000 - 3000 word essay (50%)

Objectives

On completion of this module students should be able to apply a range of film theories to the reading of cinematic texts.
They should be able to discuss the history of film theory and be conversant with some of its major strands, such as star studies, structuralism, phenomenology, Deleuzian critique, Screen writers and so on. They should be able to relate cinema to questions of race, class, gender, sexuality, form, spectatorship, authorship, semiotics, psychoanalysis, narrative and materiality. They should be able to relate film theory to cultural analysis and to relate cinema to culture as a whole. Students should be able to discuss the nature of cinema as a particular cultural form and its impact on the culture of Modernity and Postmodernity

Skills outcomes
Verbal and written fluency in constructing a logical and coherent argument.
Use of audio visual aids.
Participation in group discussions.
Co-ordination and dissemination of a range of historical, contextual visual information.
Using bibliographies and databases.

Syllabus

This module provides an introduction to post-1968 film theory developing out of the debate surrounding the journals Cahiers du Cinema and Screen and examines the complex relationship between cinema and culture. It will discuss the key theoretical concepts integral to the questions surrounding the social functioning of cinema, including semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminism, authorship, narrative, avantgarde film, women's cinema and counter cinema and the materiality of film.
Lectures will concentrate on critical theory and film analysis setting out main discourses and making detailed analyses of the previous week's screenings through discussion of the week's readings.
This module concentrates on the visual analysis, research skills, terminologies and practices of reading cinematic texts. Theorists addressed will include Jean-Louis Comolli and Jean Narboni, Stephen Heath, Paul Willemen, Christian Metz, Raymond Bellour, E. Ann Kaplan, Peter Wollen, Luce Irigaray, Gilles Deleuze, Laura Mulvey and Patricia Mellencamp. The films screened and discussed are a representative selection within the context of each concept and may include Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari, Meshes of the Afternoon, M, Camille, The Big Sleep, The Searchers, Peeping Tom, The Birds, Jaws, The Piano, Le Mepris.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Film Screenings	11	3.00	33.00
Seminar	11	2.00	22.00
Private study hours			145.00
Total Contact hours			55.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

145 hours - further reading, class/essay preparation and preparation for group presentations. Also possible longer screenings.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Attendance at seminars/film screenings
Record of attendance kept
Participation in class discussions and in the group presentations given in weeks 10 and 11

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1 x 2,000-3,000 word essay	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		50.00

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

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	2 hr	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		50.00

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: 06/05/2009

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