ENGL445-21S1 (C) Semester One 2021

The Essay Film

This occurrence is not offered in 2021

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 22 February 2021
End Date: Sunday, 27 June 2021
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 7 March 2021
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 14 May 2021

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
Response Paper 20% 2,500 words
Essay 50% 5,000 words
Oral Presentation and Written Report 30%


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

Textbooks / Resources

Films include:
   
• Cane Toads (Lewis, 1988)
• Marlene (Schell, 1984)
• F for Fake (Welles, 1973)
• Bright Leaves (McElwee, 2003)
• The Gleaners and I (Varda, 2001)
• A Spy in the House that Ruth Built (Green, 1986)
• The House is Black (Forough Farokhzad, 1962)
• Reconstruction, (Lusztig, 2001)
• The Case of the Grinning Cat (Marker, 2004)
• London (Keiller, 1992)
• Vertigo Sea (John Akomfrah, 2015)
• Perfumed Nightmare (Tahihmik, 1986)
• Nostalgia for the Light (Guzmán, 2012)  


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 $1,905.00

* 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

  • ENGL445-21S1 (C) Semester One 2021 - Not Offered
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