FAVz065 Textual Analysis and Film Studies: Criticism, Interpretation, Evaluation

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2017
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Tom Brown (lecturer)
Mgr. Veronika Jančová (assistant)
Mgr. Kateřina Šardická (assistant)
Mgr. Šárka Jelínek Gmiterková, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jiří Voráč, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Šárka Jelínek Gmiterková, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 18. 4. 15:50–19:55 U34, Wed 19. 4. 15:50–19:55 U34, Mon 24. 4. 15:50–19:55 U34, Tue 25. 4. 15:50–19:55 U34, Wed 26. 4. 9:10–13:15 U34, 15:00–19:55 U34
Prerequisites
There are none.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 10 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The Textual analysis and film studies is a short, intensive course, which will take place at the end of April. Student attendance is 100% compulsory at all lectures!
The vibrancy of contemporary film studies is evident in the wide range of methodologies it offers. Film Studies’ many specialist journals, conferences, special interest groups and associations are the home of healthy debate about how precisely the discipline’s object of study should be approached, yet it remains perhaps surprising that, as Richard Dyer has remarked, there is often relatively little “film” in much film studies research. This 6 lecture course will take the students through many key historical debates about how “textual analysis” should be undertaken and examine some of the most important film texts around which these debates have raged. The course also considers the recent, contested (re)turn towards “criticism” and the claims being made for video essays and videographic film criticism in recent years. As well as exploring urgent meta-critical issues, the module will look at case studies whereby traditions of “close reading” are brought to bear on aesthetic categories normally anathema to such an approach (i.e. the middlebrow and the spectacular).
Syllabus
  • SCREENINGS
  • Meet me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
  • Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
  • Amazing Grace (Michael Apted, 2006)
  • The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
  • Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood, 1939)
  • A collection of video essays selected by Tom Brown
  • Lecture 1 – The place of “textual analysis” within Film Studies
  • Lecture 2 – Interpretation and its discontents
  • Lecture 3 – Academic film criticism in the 21st century
  • Lecture 4 – The Middlebrow: aesthetic and political evaluations
  • Lecture 5 – Evaluating film spectacle
  • Lecture 6 – Videographic Film Criticism
Teaching methods
Six lectures will be accompanied by six screenings. These sessions consist of an approx. 15 minutes introduction and a film selected by Tom Brown. The lectures will then develop and elaborate on the topics articulated in the films.
Assessment methods
Students will have to pass two tests in order to successfully complete the course. First test, containing two questions, will take place just before Lesson 1 starts and will check students familiarization with reading required for Lesson 1 and 2. After the semester ends, students will be examined one more time. The final test will contain three questions, based on the complete reading list and also on the lectures themselves. The evaluation is thus based on the total sum of points gathered from both tests, with ten points being the maximum to be obtained.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
General note: Obligatory 100% attendance (with the exception of distance students who are allowed to miss 2 out of 6 sessions).
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2017/FAVz065