Time Schedule:
Jennifer Ann Myers
C LIT 311
Seattle Campus
Film history from the introduction of sound through the late 1950s. Focuses mostly on the golden age of the Hollywood studios and on alternative developments after World War II in Italy (Neo-Realism), France (the New Wave), and Japan.
Class description
Spanning three decades, this course considers pivotal films and moments in the history of cinema. We will examine the ways in which transformations in technology (the advent of sound, color, cinemascope), genres (the western, melodrama, film noir, science fiction, the musical), institutions (challenges to the Hollywood studio system, the rise of new national cinemas), and international movements (French poetic realism, Italian neo-realism, the French New Wave) define this period.
Not only will we often trace the migration of forms and influences across national borders, we will also place the cinematic developments within a broader atlas of historical events and the changing cultural zeitgeist: the Great Depression and New Deal politics; the buildup to World War II and its aftermath; the paranoia of the Cold War, etc. Our goal will be to acquire a comparative sense of the often complex and simultaneous shifts in films, styles, and film industries in multiple locations during this period.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
