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. This is an introductory course both for those already cinema followers as well as those who have not followed cinema before.

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.
• Identify 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 cultural appeal.
• Understand and evaluate the professional roles connected to the production of a film.
• Relate a film's theme to a larger understanding of contemporary 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.

There is no partial paper for non-attending students. In the Final Exam the student must elaborate on the structure of the clip seen during the exam and how their understanding of social theory and cinematic language are braided into a significant narrative with social, emotional and psychological consequences.

• E. ROZZO (edited by), Cinema and social theory, 2018.
• P. JONES, Introduction to social theory, 3rd Edition.