ENGL445-18S1 (C) Semester One 2018

The Essay Film

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 19 February 2018
End Date: Sunday, 24 June 2018
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 2 March 2018
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 18 May 2018

Description

This course studies the essay film, a hybrid genre which troubles conventional distinctions between documentary and fiction, as the model for a new mode of critical practice.

Dr Johnson described the essay as “as a loose sally of the mind.” This course explores the essay film, a hybrid genre situated at the crossroads of literary and cinematic “writing”. The essay film rejects the familiar techniques of narrative continuity and argumentative consistency associated with documentary filmmaking; rather, it adopts a variety of methods and modes of address that blur the distinction between fiction and non-fiction, politics and aesthetics, personal voice and public discourse, poetic image and conceptual thought.  

Honours students with no background in film studies are encouraged to enrol.

Topics will include:
• literary antecedents for the essay film
• cinematic antecedents for the essay film
• fiction and non-fiction in the essay film
• le camera stylo and ciné-écriture
• theoretical approaches to the essay as method (Benjamin and Adorno)
• personal voice and public discourse
• history, time and memory in the essay film
• politics and aesthetics of the essay film
• the essay film and the postcolonial subject
• women and the essay film
• the city in the essay film

Learning Outcomes

  • Learning Outcomes:
  • Advanced ability to interpret and critically analyse films
  • Ability to evaluate and critique selected concepts and methods of the discipline
  • Advanced ability to analyse the relationship between films and their social, cultural and historical contexts
  • Independence and confidence in formulating ideas and presenting a critical position, both in oral and written communication
  • Advanced ability to produce a detailed, coherent and persuasive argument in the form of an academic essay
  • Consistent application of standard academic research practices regarding quotations, references and bibliography
  • Enhanced self-confidence deriving from extensive familiarity with film and other cultural traditions and forms of expression
  • Initiative and pleasurable engagement in research, viewing, reading and writing
  • Precision, persuasiveness and autonomy in critical thinking
  • High level of spoken and written expression
  • Intellectual versatility and independence
  • Able to collaborate and participate effectively in group work

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Head of Department.

Course Coordinator

Alan Wright

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Essay 1 20% (2,500 words)
Essay 2 60% (5,000 words)
Oral Presentation and Written Summary 20%


Please note: this course does not have a final exam.

Textbooks / Resources

Films include:
   
• F for Fake (Welles, 1973)
• Sans Soleil (Marker, 1982)
• Marlene (Schell, 1984)
• A Spy in the House that Ruth Built (Green, 1986)
• Perfumed Nightmare (Tahimik, 1986)
• Histoire(s) du Cinéma (Godard, 1986-1996)
• Cane Toads (Lewis, 1988)
• London (Keiller, 1992)
• The Gleaners and I (Varda, 2001)
• Bright Leaves (McElwee, 2003)
• Nostalgia for the Light (Guzman, 2010)

Texts: Course Readings

(Image: "Orson Welles, en F for Fake, 1973" by La Veu del País Valencià, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.)

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,811.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Humanities .

All ENGL445 Occurrences

  • ENGL445-18S1 (C) Semester One 2018