Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "CMS/TH 241"
COURSE NAME: "Italian Cinema"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Summer Session I 2012

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Bayman Louis
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: MTWTH 16:00-18:00
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: This course carries 3 semester hours of credit.
OFFICE HOURS: By appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will present a survey of films, directors, movements, styles and the industry in Italy from the 1940’s to the present. The films will be investigated as aesthetic objects in their own right and in their relation to the wider social and cultural environment of post-war Italy. Cinema’s role as a tool of historiographic inquiry will also be explored.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
This course seeks to examine cinema as the principal entertainment and art form of the post-war era. As well as popular genres, realist, modernist and post-modernist aesthetics will be discussed in relation to Italian cinema, in particular, and Italian society in general. The course will cover neorealism, comedy, horror and westerns, and directors to be treated include (but are not limited to) De Sica, Rossellini, Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti, Risi, Monicelli, Petri, Bertolucci, and Moretti. Film screenings will be supplemented by lectures, class discussions and readings.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Students will gain:

· ability to analyze film texts using specific theoretical approaches

· ability to write analytical essays that employ specific critical frameworks

· ability to discuss key social, political, and economic events, and movements in contemporary Italian history.

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Participation (including brief presentation)	Excellent attendance, contribution to class discussion and the preparation of a brief presentation on a relevant topic of the student's choice are the components of this part of the assessment.	20%
Mid-term exam	Completion of an in-class mid-term exam.	40%
Final exam	Final, written exam.	40%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

Assessment Guidelines for assigning main letter grades: A, B, C, D, and F.

A: Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensiveknowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.

B: This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.

There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.

C: This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.

D: This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.

Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.

F: This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
More than 3 unexcused absences will result in an F (fail) grade for attendance and participation. More than 5 unexcused absences will result in an F grade for the course. An unexcused tardy of more than 20 minutes will count as an absence.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

TOPIC 1

NEOREALISM 1: CINEMA, NATION, HISTORY

Screening: Rome, Open City/Roma città aperta (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)

Reading: 1) Marcus – “Rossellini’s Open City: The Founding” in Italian Film, 33-53.
2) David Overbey – “Introduction” to Springtime in Italy: A Reader on Neorealism (ShoeString Press, 1979).
Suggested viewing: La terra trema (Luchino Visconti, 1948)

TOPIC 2

NEOREALISM 2: POLITICS AND AESTHETICS

Screening: The Bicycle Thief/Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

Reading: 1) Millicent Marcus – “Introduction” to Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism (Princeton University Press, 1987), 3-29
2) Marcus – “De Sica’s Bicycle Thief: Casting Shadows on the Visionary City,” in Italian Film, 54-75.
3) Cesare Zavattini – “Thesis on Neorealism,” Springtime, 67-78
4) Vittorio De Sica – “Why Ladri di biciclette?” Springtime, 87-88.

Suggested viewing: Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)
Riso amaro (Giuseppe De Santis, 1948)

TOPIC 3

"ROSY NEOREALISM": TRADITION, CHANGE AND POPULAR ITALIAN CINEMA

Screening: Bread, Love and Fantasy/Pane, amore e fantasia (Luigi Comencini, 1954)

Reading: 1) Marcus – “Comencini's Bread, Love and Fantasy: Consumable Realism", pp. 121-144

2) Wood, Mary "Popular Cinema and Box-Office Hits" in Italian Cinema (Berg, New York, 2005) pp. 35-63

Suggested viewing: La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960), Divorce: Italian Style/Divorzio all'italiana (Pietro Germi, 1961)
Il sorpasso (Dino Risi, 1962)

TOPIC 4

MODERNISM, RADICALISM AND ART CINEMA

Screening: Before the Revolution/Prima della rivoluzione (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1961)

Reading: 1) Bondanella, Peter Italian Cinema From Neorealism to the Present (Continuum, New York, 2001) pp.222-242
Suggested viewing: The Subversives/I sovversivi (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 1967)
The Hawks and the Sparrows/ Uccellacci e Uccellini (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1966)

TOPIC 5

GENRE ITALIAN STYLE: GIALLI, POLIZIOTTESCHI AND SPAGHETTI WESTERNS

Screening: Deep Red/Profondo rosso (Dario Argento, 1975)

Reading: 1) Bertellini, Giorgio "Deep Red" in The Cinema of Italy (Wallflower, London, 2004) pp.213-225
2) Needham, Gary "Playing with Genre: an Introduction to the Italian Giallo" in Kinoeye 2:11 10 June 2002 available: http://www.kinoeye.org/02/11/needham11.php

Suggested viewing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly/Il buono, il brutto, e il cattivo (Sergio Leone, 1966)

TOPIC 6

POST 1968: ITALIAN CINEMA AND THE YEARS OF LEAD

Screening: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion/Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (ElioPetri, 1970)

Reading: 1) Marcus – “Petri’s Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion: Power as Pathology,” in Italian Film, 263-282.

Suggested viewing: The Conformist/Il conformista (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)

TOPIC 7

FELLINI, POSTMODERNISM AND MEMORY

Screening: Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)

Readings: 1) Bondanella, Peter "Amarcord: Nostalgia and Politics" in The Films of Federico Fellini (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002)

2) Cook, Pam and Bernink Mieke (eds) sections "Art Cinema" pp.106-11 and 'Federico Fellini' pp.239-40 in The Cinema Book (BFI, London, 1999)

3) Marcus, "Introduction" to After Fellini: National Cinema in the Postmodern Age (John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2005) pp. 3-10

Suggested viewing: The Icycle Thief/Ladri di iciclette (Maurizio Nichetti, 1989)

Recommended reading: Ian Aiken, "From Political Modernism to Postmodernism" in European Film Theory and Criticism (Indiana University Press, Minneapolis, 2001)

TOPIC 8

THE 1980s: CINEMA, POLITICS AND THE NEW AUTEURS

Screening: Sogni d'oro (Nanni Moretti, 1981)

Reading: 1) Andrews, Eleanor "Nanni Moretti" in Bayman, Louis (ed.) Directory of World Cinema: Italy (Intellect, Bristol, 2011)
2) Brunetta, Gian Piero "From the 1970s to the Present" in The History of Italian Cinema (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2009)

TOPIC 9

THE NEW ITALIAN CINEMA

Screening: Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)

Reading: 1) Galt, Rosalind The New European Cinema: Redrawing the Map (Columbia University Press, New York, 2006)

TOPIC 10

THE 21^ST CENTURY: CINEMA, GENDER, HISTORY

Screening: Vogliamo anche le rose/ We Want Roses Too (Alina Marazzi, 2008)

Reading: Handouts

Session	Session Focus	Reading Assignment	Other Assignment	Meeting Place/Exam Dates