WesMaps - Wesleyan University Catalog 2007-2008       Summer Session       Winter Session       Home       Archive       Search
CS92PROD
The Past on Film
FILM 160
Spring 2008
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: PHIL 160, HIST 129

The Past on Film examines how films represent the past and how they can help us understand crucial questions in the philosophy of history. We begin with three weeks on documentary cinema. How do documentary films achieve what Roland Barthes called "the reality effect"? How is the insinuation of reality onto the screen connected to the work of a strong author or artist? How can such an author subvert his or her own realism? We then move on to classic narrative films to examine tensions between story-telling and documentation. After discussions of films that seem to aim explicitly at historical reconstruction (like NIGHT AND FOG and MAELSTROM) most of the semester will be spent with films whose narratives and mechanisms of representation help us critically engage questions about the depiction of the past.

Essential Capabilities: None
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA FILM
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (CSCT)(FILM-MN)(FILM)
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on DEC-03-2024
Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email ? Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459