FTVMS 215G Reading Contemporary Films
This course provides an introduction to the critical analysis of contemporary film through case studies of specific films. In particular, this course focuses on the ways in which individual films use film form to create meaning, to communicate ideas and to construct representations of places and people, including relationships and communities. In lectures and tutorials we will focus on close reading of the films themselves as well as contextual elements to do with industry, audience, and the influence of and resistance to Hollywood. The course will begin with Hollywood film and its characteristics then move on to examine Independent Hollywood productions before moving on to study examples from other national cinemas, large and small, and/or art and foreign language film.
Cinema is a highly pervasive and influential form of popular entertainment. This course is for students who are interested in the social, cultural, industrial and visual elements of film and its critique.
Students will hone their close reading skills in order to critically analyse films in terms of social and cultural context, and come to understand specific films as forms arising out of competing forces of cultural expression and corporate enterprise.
The course is divided into two main parts: Hollywood film and World film. Topics will include the tension between Hollywood and other cinemas, narrative and spectacle in the Hollywood film, narrative and story telling techniques, the aesthetics of image and sound, the function of genre, contexts of production and consumption (including international co-financing and global distribution), the impact of new technologies, and current film criticism from academic analyses to popular reviews that function as part of routine marketing and publicity.
Five hours per week: one two-hour lecture, one one-hour tutorial, one two-hour workshop - this is a screening of the film that will be the case study for the following week’s lecture.
Attendance at the workshop is optional as viewing may be done in the audio-visual library (as long as this is done prior to the lecture). Tutorials are a place to ask questions; to clarify understanding of issues addressed in lectures, readings, assignments, and films; and for group discussion.
Assignment 1: essay, 1000 words. 20%
Assignment 2: essay 1500 words. 25%
Tutorial participation: 5%
Examination: Two hour examination: 50%
Required texts:
Most of the required readings will be available from the department as a course reader.
Recommended texts TBA but will include:
Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies: Key Concepts. London; New York: Routledge, 2006.
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