15-TFESCGC-ES-11
This course will introduce its participants to some major trends in the history of 20th and 21st century British and American film. Particularly, it will survey the ways in which mainstream cinema has drawn on genre-related conventions to interrogate and offer a creative comment on or critique of the British, U.S. and global culture. It will also develop the vocabulary and tools for critical thinking and film analysis, the latter of which requires a careful examination of a given picture’s narrative and genre, mise-en-scène, camera work, editing, montage and sound. Moreover, participants of the course will be acquainted with elements of i) the history of British and American (Hollywood) mainstream film with the special focus on the New Wave, Movie Brats, kitchen sink realism, social realism and some classic auteurs; ii) aesthetics of the main pure and hybrid film genres and their derivatives like neo-noir film. A series of interactive lectures and screenings will be facilitated by discussions on how selected filmmakers appeal to American and British cultural practices, social behaviors and prejudices surrounding issues such as race, gender, sexuality, violence, crime, urbanization, war, relationships, etc. The course will also give its participants the opportunity to leverage film criticism to determine why the examined works and the way they depict certain events and phenomena have exerted the lasting influence on the British and American cinematic storytelling and landscape in general.
- Teacher: Kornelia Boczkowska