30475 - CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE ARTS II - MODULE II (CINEMA)

There are no formal prerequisites for this course. You may or may not already be a cinema follower. Anyone can take this course.

The role of cinema in our society is a complex one starting with the factor of entertainment as popular expression. On a deeper analysis, cinema represents the expression of social mores, collective anxieties and cultural paradigms. The course has three principal objectives: - Provide the students with a comprehensive understanding of how cinema works both technically and culturally. - Help the student develop a personal understanding of major social theories as well as the capacity for expressing and analyzing cinematic narrative. - Teach structural, cultural and linguistic theories which help the student identify significant social-cultural themes within cinematic narrative.

This course offers the student a complex understanding of cinema, its structure and its meaning.

• Analysis of the cinematic language and its relation to social theories and Consumer Culture Theory.
• Overview of the roles and professions in the film industry.
• Theoretical basis of the cultural questions represented through cinema and their relationship to social and psychological needs.
• How story structure guides our emotional response.
• The vision of key films in order to understand their lingustic development and social significance.

The course is based on the vision and subsequent in-class discussion of specific films which have attracted the public's attention for various motives.

• Analyze the semiotic meaning of any scene in any film.
• Understand the social theories at the basis of each characters narrative.
• Have a good grasp of the cinematographic elements utilzed in a film's narration.
• Understand the narrative structure of a film and evaluate its effectiveness.
• Appreciate various genres of film.
• Distinguish the anthropological as well as cultural values expressed in a film's narrative.

• Evaluate a films potential value and cultural appeal.
• Understand and evaluate the professional roles connected to the production of a film.
• Relate cultural disruptions and values seen in a film to other areas of consumer marketing.
• Relate a film's theme to a larger understanding of contemporary consumer culture.
• Recognize a story's potential appeal relating to the psychological and social treatment of the protagonist.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Individual assignments

• The in-class vision of films followed by group discussion.
• In-class lectures.

The partial paper is a semiotic, cinematographic and sociological analysis of a video clip.

There is no partial paper for non-attending students.

• E. ROZZO (edited by), Cinema and social theory. 
• P. JONES, Introduction to social theory.