SYLLABUS – SUMMER 2011
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
487 Manoogian Hall
Tel: (313) 577-3002
ITA 5150 Italian Cinema and the Sister Arts
Summer 2014, Gagliano Aterno, Italy
Course Description
In the years following World War II, Italian neorealist cinema emerged as an important, politically engaged philosophy of filmmaking that lauded the values of realism and naturalism. One of its principle proponents, director Vittorio DeSica, declared that the “experience of the war was decisive for us all. Each felt the mad desire to throw away all the old stories of Italian cinema, to plant the camera in the midst of real life, in the midst of all that struck our astonished eyes.”
Was the cinematic ideal really to be attained by simply planting a cinema camera in a piazza and allowing life to unfold? In spite of this theoretical passion for direct, scarcely-mediated representations of reality, Italian cinema has always also had a passion for artistry and specifically for the arts. From lyric opera to architecture, from painting and dance to photography, Italian films have also ingeniously integrated the sister arts into their narratives and their aesthetic programs, using the medium of cinema to study, celebrate, and critique other artistic forms.
This course will consider the rich interdisciplinary potential of cinema by examining the significance of photography, architecture, dance, literature, and music in a wide range of Italian films, from neorealism to the present. How does the cinema camera negotiate its relationship to other art forms? Can film use its study of other aesthetic modes to make important claims about its own status as art? How might our knowledge of or relationships to the other arts help us to develop new means for understanding film? We will draw on our own interdisciplinary talents in our quest to unpack the complex artistry that built the films under scrutiny.
Finally, because our course is conducted in Italy, we will also be considering questions of Italian identity, and connecting the films that we view with our own experiences of Italy and Italian art.
Course Requirements
Class Participation
Our class will be conducted partially as a lecture and partially as a seminar discussion. You will be asked to serve as a class discussion leader over the course of the semester. As discussion leader, you will be expected to prepare written questions for the class, based on your particular interpretation of the film, your analysis of the relationship between the film and the arts, and connections drawn between the readings and the film. Your classmates will be expected to contemplate the questions and to come to class prepared to contribute their own opinions of the topic.
Your participation in class discussions is critical, and you are expected to have prepared and reflected on the readings before the connected discussions. Your attendance is thus also critical; more than two absences will result in a lowering of your participation grade.
Papers
You will be expected to write two papers over the course of the semester (4 weeks for the summer program): one film review and one short paper (3-5 pages). You are invited to write your papers in Italian; if you choose to do so, you are encouraged to turn in drafts before the final draft is due.
Film Journal
You will be expected to keep a journal in which you chronicle your reactions to the films and make connections between the films we see and your experience in Italy. What can you learn culturally from the films? How is the Italy we see in the films, sometimes made 50 years ago, different from the Italy of your experience? If people from Gagliano join us for the screenings, what are their reactions? These questions are only suggestions; you may relate films to your experience in any number of ways.
Your writing style can be creative and informal, but should always be clear and engaging; the content of your journals should reflect critical thinking and a thoughtful analysis of both the film and of your experience. You will receive a √+ for each journal that reflects original, creative thought; a √ for a journal that is satisfactory but lacks creativity; and a √- for journals that are written hastily, that do not incorporate critical reactions to the films, etc. Journal entries may also be written in Italian, and while I will correct grammar, you will be graded on content and clarity, not on grammatical accuracy.
You should write one journal entry for each film. There is no length requirement, but the equivalent of one type-written page is a suggested minimum.
Final Exam
On the final day of class, August 13, you will take the final exam for the course, which will consist of identification questions involving both the films, directors, and theoretical and historical concepts we study in class, and a final essay question regarding the course topic, connecting cinema and a sister art.
Grading Procedure
Class Participation:20%
Film Journal:20%
Film Review:10%
Short Paper:15%
Final Exam:35%
Educational Accessibility
If you feel that you may need accommodation based on the impact of a disability, please feel free to contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Additionally, the Office of Educational Accessibility Services (EAS) coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. The Office is located in the Student Center Building, Room 583, phone: 313-577-1851 (Voice)/577-3365 (TTY).
Online Resources
I strongly encourage the use of online resources as exploratory tools and as a means for investigating Italian literature and culture. When writing academic papers or conducting academic research, the internet can be an excellent starting point. Ultimately, given the free and independent nature of the internet, however, you should be both critical and cautious when using internet resources.
Academic Integrity
According to Wayne State,
“Academic misbehavior means any activity that tends to compromise the academic integrity of the institution or subvert the education process. All forms of academic misbehavior are prohibited at Wayne State University, as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct.
“Students are expected to be honest and forthright in their academic studies. Students who commit or assist in committing dishonest acts are subject to downgrading and/or additional sanctions as described in the Student Code of Conduct. Faculty and students are responsible for knowing the different forms of academic dishonesty as well as for being aware of the Student Code of Conduct.”
Forms of academic misbehavior include, but are not limited to, cheating, fabrication, and plagiarism. For more information on academic integrity, please consult the website for the Dean of Students:
If at any point you are uncertain about how to cite a source or about the proper guidelines for quotation and paraphrasing, please consult the MLA Handbook or feel free to come speak with me.
Tentative Course Schedule
Week 1
Outsiders and Italy
Merchant and Ivory, Room with a View
Readings:
James Monaco, “Film as an Art”
Mary Wood, “What is Italian Cinema?”
Seymour Chatman, “What Novels Can Do That Films Can’t (And Vice Versa)”
Cinema without art?
Vittorio De Sica, Bicycle Thieves
Readings:
Three film reviews
Andre Bazin, “Bicycle Thief”
Week 2
Cinema and meta-cinema
Luchino Visconti, Bellissima
Readings:
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
Millicent Marcus, “The Diva, the Mirror, and the Screen”
Cinema and the fotoromanzo
Federico Fellini, The White Sheik
Readings:
Peter Bondanella, “Origins: Journalism and the Comic Strips”
Week 3 Turn in film review
Cinema, literature, and photography
July 28:
Michelangelo Antonioni, Blow-up
Readings:
Julio Cortazar, “Blow-up”
Susan Sontag, “In Plato’s Cave,” and “The Image-World”
Cinema and music
Giuseppe Tornatore, The Legend of 1900
Readings:
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, “Sound in the Cinema”
Week 4
Cinema, dance, and television
Federico Fellini, Ginger and Fred
Readings:
Jim Collins, “Television and Postmodernism”
Millicent Marcus, “Ginger and Fred: Fellini After Fellini”
Turn in short paper
Cinema, postmodernism, and nostalgia
Giuseppe Tornatore, Cinema Paradiso
Readings:
Millicent Marcus, “Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso and the Art of
Nostalgia”