LFU:online

Institut für Amerikastudien Institut für Amerikastudien

Johannes Mahlknecht Johannes Mahlknecht

610011

Discourse/Identity: American Cultures: From Western to Romcom: Genres of Hollywood Cinema

PS 2

5

wöch.

semestral

Englisch

The aims of this course are: to raise a deeper awareness of a routinely used but often little reflected concept of film studies; to familiarize students with methods of analyzing historically and aesthetically relevant films; to lead to a better understanding of the interconnection of external factors (social, economic and technological) that precondition the establishment and development of specific genres.

In simple terms, genre in narrative cinema involves familiar characters acting out familiar story patterns in familiar settings. The protagonist in a gangster film, for instance, has little concern for moral values; in a murder mystery we move from one clue to the next, and a historical epic often recreates the splendor of ancient Rome or Greece. While genre is certainly relevant as it influences – directly or indirectly – our moviegoing habits, in combination with close examinations of individual films the concept can become highly problematic. Not only does a focus on generic conventions and genre specifications ignore a film’s value as an individual work of art, the ever-increasing number of genres and genre-combinations in contemporary mainstream cinema also makes clear categorizations impossible. By analyzing concrete examples, in this course we will address and discuss the various advantages and difficulties one encounters when dealing with genre in Hollywood cinema. In the first sessions we will define the concept of film genre in general and investigate its relevance from the perspective of producers, audiences, and theorists. The sessions which follow will focus on a selection of individual films from different periods, each representing (that is, more or less!) one of several selected genres like the War Film or the Courtroom Drama. Compulsory viewings include: _The Bridge on the River Kwai_(1957, David Lean),_Patton_ (1970, Franklin J. Schaffner), Once Upon a Time in the West_ (1968, Sergio Leone), _True Grit_ (2010, Joel and Ethan Coen), _Groundhog Day_ (1993, Harold Ramis), _The Verdict_ (1982, Sidney Lumet)

Lecture inputs, presentations, group discussions

active class participation, student presentations, viewing assignments, term paper

As far as possible, course materials and selected primary and secondary sources will be posted on e-campus.

Anmeldungsvoraussetzung/en im BA: positive Beurteilung des Pflichtmoduls 19 Anmeldungsvoraussetzung im Lehramtsstudium: VO2: Introduction to American Literary Studies Entspricht im Lehramtsstudium (344): PS2: American Culture
Beginn: 11.10.2011