Spring

In this course we examine the phenomenon of translating literature into filmic texts. In juxtaposing literature and films, we critically evaluate the dominant concept of faithfulness to the literary originals. Filmic adaptations are viewed as creative commentaries on literary works and interpreted in conjunction with recent theoretical thought.

This course will explore the role of film music from its origins in silent film, its significance in the classical Hollywood movie, to its increasingly self-reflexive use in recent cinema (both avant-garde and commercial, Western and non-Western). We will look at the ways music plays a central role both as part of the narrative and as non-diegetic music, how its stylistic diversity contributes its own semiotic universe to the screen, and how it became a central participant in twentieth-century visual culture. Since the course will partly focus on technical, compositional, and stylistitic aspects of film music, some reading knowledge of music can be helpful, but is not a prerequisite.

COVA 10100 or 10200, and 24000 or 24100, or consent of instructor. Throughout the quarter, students concentrate on a set of issues and ideas that expand upon their experience and knowledge, and that have particular relevance to them. All course work is directed towards the production of a cohesive body of either color or black-and-white photographs. An investigation of contemporary and historic photographic issues informs the students' photographic practice and includes visits to local exhibitions, critical readings, darkroom techniques, and class and individual critiques. Lab fee $60.

COVA 10100 or 10200, and 24000 or 24100, or consent of instructor. Throughout the quarter, students concentrate on a set of issues and ideas that expand upon their experience and knowledge, and that have particular relevance to them. All course work is directed towards the production of a cohesive body of either color or black-and-white photographs. An investigation of contemporary and historic photographic issues informs the students' photographic practice and includes visits to local exhibitions, critical readings, darkroom techniques, and class and individual critiques. Lab fee $60.

COVA 10100, 10200, or consent of instructor. A camera and light meter are required. Photography affords a relatively simple and accessible means for making pictures. Through demonstration, students are introduced to technical procedures and basic skills, and begin to establish criteria for artistic expression. Possibilities and limitations inherent in the medium are topics of classroom discussion. Class sessions and field trips to local exhibitions investigate the contemporary photograph in relation to its historical and social context. Course work culminates in a portfolio of works exemplary of the student's understanding of the medium. Lab fee $60.

Theoretically, the guerra di liberazione is considered to be a founding historical event in Italy, meant to give birth to the Italian Republic. However, the Resistance has never been a national myth for all citizens, and fifty years later it remains a burning memory, an issue of bitter political debate. In this long controversy, filmmakers and novelists have played a large role. The goal of this course is to present the different readings and interpretations of the Resistance, from the post-war period to the present, in various contexts and media: cinema, literature, historiography. Readings will include writers on either side of the Resistance, as well as contemporary historians like Pavone and Luzzatto.

This course will explore the rise and fall of the Neo-realism, from the very seeds in the early Forties, till the last Neo-realist works by Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini in the early Fifties. We will focus on the theoretical debate which took place in film journals between young scholars and future directors postulating the need for a new cinema, more related to the reality of Italian society, and we will evaluate those movies produced during the war period. The second part of the course will focus on close readings of some of the most significant Neo-realist movies. Finally, the last part of the course will be devoted to the influence of Neo-realism on the subsequent Italian cinema of the Fifties and Sixties.

This seminar will explore the nature of film's relation to animation, the "bringing to life" through moving images. It will explore cinema's relation to other traditions of life-like illusions (from automatons to panoramas), its exploration of the thresholds between animate and inanimate in horror films, (The Bride of Frankenstein) fairy tales (The Return to OZ) and comedies (Lubitsch's Die Puppe), and all of these in relation to what is technically referred to as film animation, both animated films which bring things to life (Brothers Quay, Svankmajer, Cohl) as well as abstract animation which aspires to trace patterns of animation (Fischinger, Ruttmann, Breer). Issues of 19th century vitalism (Henri Bergson) and the role of motion in the aesthetics of the cinema will be explored as well as discussion of new foundation for a theory of cinematic specificity. Freud and Jentsch's discussions of the Uncanny and the literature these essays have prompted will be central to our discussions, as well as readings of fiction by Hoffman, Hawthorne, Baum and others.

This PhD intensive reading course examines theoretical texts that deal with the interdisciplinary issues arising out of the confluence and conflict of word, image, and performance in various cultural contexts. Central concerns will include dramatic action, theatricality, visual and aural representation, and the competing phenomenologies of audience experiences of performance and cinema/video. We will be looking closely at the nature of drama and theatre, the mediation of performance through cinema and video, and the ways in which drama and theatricality manifest themselves in cultural activity more broadly. We will also scrutinize the ways on which metaphors of theatricality and performativity have been appropriated by other disciplines. Requirements: ACTIVE class participation; two presentations (P/F) and a short position paper (grade).

Consent of instructor. Please register by faculty section.