FAVh060 Realism in Global Art Cinema

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Ondřej Pavlík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Ondřej Pavlík, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 14:00–15:40 C34, Thu 18:00–20:40 C34, except Mon 18. 11. to Sun 24. 11. ; and Thu 10. 10. 12:00–13:40 C34, Thu 17. 10. 12:00–13:40 C34, Thu 31. 10. 12:00–13:40 C34, Thu 28. 11. 12:00–13:40 C34, Thu 19. 12. 12:00–13:40 C34
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 8 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Realism is a common term in film debates. Its meaning - at least intuitively - seems obvious. It refers to films or groups of films that, with their style, actors and themes, seem to be closest to non-film reality. At the same time, however, we encounter different terms and subcategories of realism that do not mean the same thing: neorealism, socialist realism, hyperrealism, magical realism and others. So what if realism is not a fixed object, but a moving and internally differentiated field that can change in time and place?

This course will present dominant and lesser-known conceptions of realism, as they have manifested mainly in global art cinema. In general, these concepts can be divided into two currents. The first of them is based on the idea that reality is the opposite of fictional construction and that realistic films reflect unmediated reality as accurately as possible. The second of them, on the contrary, understands construction and multiplicity as the main principle of realism and suggests that fictions do not reflect, but rather transform and create reality.

The series of lectures and screenings will show how these ideas about realism are changing, which general attitudes about reality support these ideas, and what forms of realism we can find in films. Realism emerges from this overview as an aesthetic, ethical and production category that significantly determines how we relate to the world around us. Among the films that will accompany the lectures will be films of Italian neorealism, cinema verité, and films by Chantal Akerman, Miguel Gomes or Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will be able to:
- identify and summarize central approaches to cinematic realism
- be aware of the philosophical attitudes towards reality that stand behind different conceptions of realism
- understand realism as an aesthetic, ethical, production and perceptual category
- recognize different types of realistic film production
- think about the theories of film realism with regard to broader social shifts and other matters of everyday life
Syllabus
  • the realism of André Bazin
  • realism as an aesthetic convention: Roland Barthes, Bordwell & Thompson, structuralists and formalists
  • is there a realism in affect? Gilles Deleuze and poststructuralism
  • Thomas Elsaesser and a new reading of Bazin
  • hyperrealism: more real than reality
  • realism as a mode of production: how reality is created
  • Bruno Latour and his theory of fictional realism
  • speculative realism
Literature
  • Impure cinema :intermedial and intercultural approaches to film. Edited by Anne Jerslev - Lúcia Nagib. 1 online r. ISBN 9781780765112. info
  • JIRSA, Tomáš. Tváří v tvář beztvarosti : afektivní a vizuální figury v moderní literatuře. První vydání. Brno: Host, 2016, 364 stran. ISBN 9788074917936. info
  • Theorizing world cinema. Edited by Lúcia Nagib - Christopher Perriam - Rajinder Kumar Dudrah. London: I.B. Tauris, 2012, xxxii, 229. ISBN 9780857721044. info
  • Opening Bazin : postwar film theory and its afterlife. Edited by Dudley Andrew - Hervé Joubert-Laurencin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, xix, 351. ISBN 9780199733880. info
  • HARMAN, Graham. Towards speculative realism : essays and lectures. 1st pub. Winchester, UK: Zero Books, 2010, 212 s. ISBN 9781846943942. info
  • DELEUZE, Gilles. Film. 1, Obraz-pohyb : Cinéma. 1, L'image-mouvement (Orig.). Translated by Jiří Dědeček. Vyd. v ČR 1. Praha: Národní filmový archiv, 2000, 298 s. ISBN 80-7004-098-X. info
  • BAZIN, André. Co je to film? Praha: Československý filmový ústav, 1979. info
Teaching methods
lectures, film screenings
Assessment methods
final essay
Language of instruction
Czech
Study support
https://is.muni.cz/auth/el/phil/podzim2024/FAVh060/index.qwarp
Further Comments
Study Materials
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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