Summer 2009

HIS f362G • EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM IN FILM

Course Description

This course is devoted to studying films made in Europe about European empires and colonial peoples. We will concentrate on French, British, and Russian films starting with the invention of cinema in 1895 and ending with the early post-colonial period in the 1960s. Films will be treated as primary sources that embody ideas, feelings and values of the European context in which they were made. The general goals of the course are to learn to view films thoughtfully and to acquire an understanding of the ways that imperialism was represented visually.

Grading Policy

Discussion: 10%, Group discussion: 10%, 2 mid-terms: 20 + 20%, Final exam: 40%

Texts

A packet of required readings will be available on Blackboard. Films Lumière Brothers, Actualités, France, 1895-1900 Georges Méliès, Trip to the Moon; France, 1902 Robert Flaherty, Nanook of the North (clips), USA, 1922 Dziga Vertov, One-Sixth of the World USSR Jacques Duvivier, Pépe le Moko, France, 1937, Zoltan Korda, The Drum, UK 1938 Mikhail Kalatozov, Salt for Svanteiia USSR, 1930 Gillo Pontecorvo, Battle of Algiers, Italy 1966 David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia, UK, 1962 Nikita Mikhalkov, Urga, or Close to Eden, USSR, 1991

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