How to describe the indescribable and to speak the unspeakable? Long after the end of World War II, filmmakers still grapple with these questions, and their answers vary ethically and aesthetically. This course will discuss depictions of the Holocaust in contemporary popular culture. We will touch on graphic novels, TV sketches, and social media, but mainly focus on film. While the time frame will be limited to mainly the last two decades, we will explore a vast range of texts including: Hollywood fare and East European art-house movies; gritty dramas and dark comedies; reenactments of real-life events and alternative history. From Hipster Hitler to the Jojo Rabbit, from "Inglorious Basterds" to "Son of Saul," what all these examples share is an artistic and thematic audacity. We will examine how they try to propose new and unsettling answers to old but ever-vital questions: How did the Holocaust happen and might it happen again? |