Vision, Representation and Cinema (FILM 432)

2020 Spring
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Film Studies(FILM)
3
6
Asuman Feride Suner Zontul asuman.suner@sabanciuniv.edu,
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English
Undergraduate
--
Formal lecture,Interactive lecture
Communicative,Discussion based learning
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CONTENT

Cinema is the art of the 20th century. Though its birth goes all the way back to the 19th century it is, in this long century that cinema has been the medium of high and low art, the medium of propaganda and popular culture. The show and entertainment business of the last century and the consumer culture came out has both contributed to and benefited from the cinema. On the other hand, cinema has transformed the visual culture dramatically as a matter of visuality. It is after the introduction of the movies of the 1920s that human understanding of visuality has taken a radical shift as a consequence of cinema's relation to various aspects, such as psychoanalysis In this regard cinema might be taken as the basic art of the past century with none of the realms of art and social life being ignorant to it. The course will expose the students to the reality both produced and transformed in cinema. Each week a certain field, such as history, politics, psychoanalysis, gender, marginality, will be selected and accordingly films will be analysed to find out how the reality of that specific area is represented. On the background the students will discuss and analyse the basic concerns and concepts of modernity. The course, in this context, will conjointly survey the history, problematics and arts of the past century as well as the adventure of cinema as a technique and art.

OBJECTIVE

Constructing coherent and independent arguments based on the critical evaluation of the theories on modernity, visuality and cinema
Developing basic film analysis

LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Understanding the development of new forms of visuality in the context of the 19th century modernity Understanding the development of the film form in the context of the 19th and early 20th century modernity Developing a critical understanding of the development of film language Developing a critical understanding of cinematic representation

PROGRAMME OUTCOMES


1. Understand the world, their country, their society, as well as themselves and have awareness of ethical problems, social rights, values and responsibility to the self and to others. 3

2. Understand different disciplines from natural and social sciences to mathematics and art, and develop interdisciplinary approaches in thinking and practice. 4

3. Think critically, follow innovations and developments in science and technology, demonstrate personal and organizational entrepreneurship and engage in life-long learning in various subjects; have the ability to continue to educate him/herself. 4

4. Communicate effectively in Turkish and English by oral, written, graphical and technological means. 4

5. Take individual and team responsibility, function effectively and respectively as an individual and a member or a leader of a team; and have the skills to work effectively in multi-disciplinary teams. 2


1. Develop knowledge of theories, concepts, and research methods in humanities and social sciences. 4

2. Assess how global, national and regional developments affect society. 2

3. Know how to access and evaluate data from various sources of information. 4


1. Demonstrate an understanding of the multiple methodologies and interpret different approaches, concepts, and theoretical legacies in the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Studies. 5

2. Identify interconnections of knowledge within and across the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, literature, visual studies, philosophy, and geography. 4

3. Cultivate a critical approach to the study of culture, articulating the relations between culture, power, and history; exploring cultural diversity and socio-cultural change at the local, national and global level; and exploring the corresponding demands for rights and social justice. 5

4. With the use of appropriate technologies, be able to present advanced oral and written evaluations of developments in the realm of cultural production, consumption, and representation. 3


1. Demonstrate safe working habits and a general understanding of materials and processes in the visual arts. 1

2. Demonstrate knowledge of representational processes using visual as well as audial material as mediums of representation. 2

3. Show working knowledge of the process of transforming abstract/textual concepts into concrete, audio/visual forms. 3

4. Appreciate and express the cultural significance of art and understand its evolution and purposes. 5

5. Develop an awareness of compositional and organizational strategies for the effective deployment of formal elements of visual art. 3

6. Read visual texts with a deep knowledge of art history and theory and the ability of situating the content and form of the visual representation both in a historical and thematic context. 5

7. Employ necessary background knowledge regarding art administration in the body of museums and galleries. 1

8. Show a practical and technical command of materials and methods in one or more media of the visual arts. 1

ASSESSMENT METHODS and CRITERIA

  Percentage (%)
Quiz 40
Term-Paper 40
Participation 10
Presentation 10

RECOMENDED or REQUIRED READINGS

Readings

Jeremy Hicks, Dziga Vertov: Defining Documentary Film. London: I.B.Tauris, 2007.
David Sterritt, The Films of Jean-Luc Godard: Seeing the Invisible. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Anne Friedberg, Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Richard Neupert, A History of the French New Wave Cinema. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.
Michel Chion, The Films of Jacques Tati. Toronto: Guernica, 2003.
Mark Shiel and Tony Fitzmaurice ed. Cinema and the City: Film and Urban Societies in a Global Context, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.