Spring 2010

GER 363K • German Film Since 1933

Course Description

This course surveys the crisis and rebirth of German film against the backdrop of Nazi Germany. By studying films from 1933 to the present we will explore the medium's changing styles, ways of telling stories and cultural directions. At the same time, we will explore the social, political and cultural events of this era. The course will be conducted in German. Fundamental questions to be considered include: How did National Socialism reshape German filmmaking during the Third Reich? What did the exiles from Hitler's Germany contribute to American filmmaking? How was the German cinema reconstructed after 1945? What was the GDR cultural policy and its imprint on the East German cinema? In the light of the history lessons from the German past, what was the relationship of the German New Wave cinema to both the "Altfilmer" and the American film industry? What constitutes the specific German symbiosis of West German TV and cinema? How does the New German Cinema relate to German theater? In what way has the German cinema been relevant to the women's movement and to the quest for a German identity? What do the 80s/90s shifts in audience tastes and the reunification mean to the German cinema? What's the 21st century German cinema like?

Grading Policy

Class Participation (contribution to discussion, questions asked, comments made) 30% Papers (Reviews: 5% each, Paper 25%) 35% Exams (Quiz 5%, mid-semester, in-class dress rehearsal for the Final 5%, Final 25% 35% Note: More than 5 absences and late papers (-5% for each day) to affect your grade. No late oral presentations. Save your allowable absences for emergencies. PREREQUISITE: Six hours of upper-division German or consent of instructor.

Texts

Hake, Sabine. Film in Deutschland. Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch, 2004 (rororo re 55663). Class package.

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