Module Information
Module Identifier
FM34820
Module Title
World War Two on Screen
Academic Year
2014/2015
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Pre-Requisite
Completion of Part 1
Other Staff
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 x 2 hour lectures/seminars |
| Other | 10 x 3 hour viewings |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 3,000 word Essay: Apply a critical reading to one of the themes, comparing and contrasting different approaches and the historical contexts of both themes and film production. | 60% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x seminar presentation (15 minutes): Independent preparation of a topic, delivery of a mini-lecture, documented through a power-point presentation and a file with the notes used for the 15-minute presentation (length may vary) and source | 25% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x test (1 hour, using the screening slot in week 10) Analysis of a scene (5-7 minutes) from one of the films studied: comment on the visual style and significance within the film, wider historical meaning. | 15% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 3,000 word Essay (different topic) Apply a critical reading to one of the themes and compare/contrast approaches | 60% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x presentation (rescheduled): independent study of a film not covered on the course, but topic-related and presented as above. | 25% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 X TEST (1 HOUR) Analysis of a different scene (5-7 minutes) from one of the films studied: comment on the visual style and significance within the film, wider historical meaning. | 15% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Engage criticaly with films about World War II and apply these analytical skills to other films, and films about other wars or historical events;
2. Understand how, through the medium of film, filmmakers may agree/disagree with the way in which war is viewed at a particular time and in a particular political context;
3. Assess how filmmakers may manipulate audience perceptions of historical events;
4. Analyze a film's narrative in a political and historical context;
5. Distinguish personal and political issues in the respresentation of war;
6. Prepare and present a seminar topic and lead a discussion.
Aims
1. To develop thematic and generic frameworks for the treatment of history in cinema.
2. To bridge the disciplinary borders between the study of film and history.
3. To analyse he use of cinema to (re)-create hisorical facts and function as a tool for propaganda.
2. To bridge the disciplinary borders between the study of film and history.
3. To analyse he use of cinema to (re)-create hisorical facts and function as a tool for propaganda.
Brief description
The genre of the war film appears never to have lost its popularity. This module explores the representation of WWII in cinema, focusing on some landmark films. These films are studied under thematic headings in order to investigate changes in the treatment of WWII in recent years.
Content
The module will cover four key themes, with the first week offering introductory lectures to the treatment of history on screen in general, and on some key episodes of WWII. The themes will be explored through two films each, offering scope for comparison. The last week will consist of revision classes, drawing together the different themes and looking across the four thematic blocks, for example:
Theme 1. Life in the Camps
Films: Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful (1997) and Stefan Ruzowitzky, The Counterfeiters (2007). Both films are set in concentration camps and show everyday life in the camp in unusual ways, turning life into a spectacle.
Theme 2. The 'Führer'
Films: Alexander Sokurov: Moloch (1999) and Oliver Hirschbiegel: Downfall (2004).
Both films show Hitler from non-historical perspectives.
Theme 3: Resistance
Films: Pal Verhoeven, Black Book (2006) and Sergei Loznitsa, In the Fog (2012) both deal with issues of resistance: of political resistance in the Netherlands; and of moral resistance in Belarussian territories occupied by the German army.
Theme 4: Rewriting History?
Films: Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds (2009) and Andrej Wajda: Katyn (2007). Where Tarantino rewrites the history of the German occupation in France in a parodic manner, Wajda returns historical facts about the massacre in Katyn.
The module investigaes the use of cinema to distort or adjust historical narratives, depending on politics and production circumstances.
SCHEDULE
Week 1: History on Screen: some theoretical approaches
Week 2: Life in the Camps: spectacle or reality?
Week 3: Life in the Camps: moral choices?
Week 4: The war: a view of the aggressor?
Week 5: The war: a view from the aggressor?
Week 6: The Resistance Movement
Week 7: The Issue of Moral Choice
Week 8: Historical Fact and Fiction
Week 9: Film as Historical Document
Week 10: Revision: common themes and different treatments of war
Theme 1. Life in the Camps
Films: Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful (1997) and Stefan Ruzowitzky, The Counterfeiters (2007). Both films are set in concentration camps and show everyday life in the camp in unusual ways, turning life into a spectacle.
Theme 2. The 'Führer'
Films: Alexander Sokurov: Moloch (1999) and Oliver Hirschbiegel: Downfall (2004).
Both films show Hitler from non-historical perspectives.
Theme 3: Resistance
Films: Pal Verhoeven, Black Book (2006) and Sergei Loznitsa, In the Fog (2012) both deal with issues of resistance: of political resistance in the Netherlands; and of moral resistance in Belarussian territories occupied by the German army.
Theme 4: Rewriting History?
Films: Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds (2009) and Andrej Wajda: Katyn (2007). Where Tarantino rewrites the history of the German occupation in France in a parodic manner, Wajda returns historical facts about the massacre in Katyn.
The module investigaes the use of cinema to distort or adjust historical narratives, depending on politics and production circumstances.
SCHEDULE
Week 1: History on Screen: some theoretical approaches
Week 2: Life in the Camps: spectacle or reality?
Week 3: Life in the Camps: moral choices?
Week 4: The war: a view of the aggressor?
Week 5: The war: a view from the aggressor?
Week 6: The Resistance Movement
Week 7: The Issue of Moral Choice
Week 8: Historical Fact and Fiction
Week 9: Film as Historical Document
Week 10: Revision: common themes and different treatments of war
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | |
| Communication | Students' written communication skills will be developed (e.g. appropriate language and style, accuracy, precision and ability to be concise). Opportunities will be given, through seminar sessions, for students to develop confidence in using their speaking and listening skills when communicating their ideas. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will be able to develop their skills of information location and retrieval. Students will be given opportunities to develop note-taking skills. Students will develop their critical thinking skills. Through small group discussions and seminars students will be given opportunities to develop an awareness of the opinions of others and reconsider initial ideas if necessary. |
| Information Technology | Students will be given the opportunity to develop their authorial and note-taking skills when planning for oral and written assignments. Students will be given opportunities to develop their skills using electronic search and retrieval of sources on the web and on libray catalogues. Students will develop their reference skills and their ability to select relevant materials for the task. Blackboard will be the main form of communication and information sharing in this module. Students will have to develop a PowerPoint presentation and prepae clips and screenshots from films. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Students will be given the opportunity to evaluate current knowledge and skills. Students will be encouraged to take increasing responsibility for managing their own learning. Students will be encouraged to build upon the knowledge gained from lectures and apply this to other areas. |
| Problem solving | Students should be able to identify tensions and debates in the field, and will be encouraged to critically reflect on the process by which academics arrive at particular theoretical interpretaions of particular films and historiographies. |
| Research skills | Students will be able to develop their skills of information location and retrieval. Students will be able to develop their textual analytic skills, and to lean to analyze texts in a focused and puropseful manner. Students will be encouraged to evaluate, interpret and reflect upon a variety of sources. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students will learn how to edit and prepare visuals for presentation purposes. |
| Team work | Students will be encouraged to do their seminar presentations in small groups to encourage teamwork and division of work according to their skills. |
Reading List
Recommended TextChapman, James (2008) War and Film Reaktion Primo search Clarke, James (2006) War Films Primo search Hughes-Warrington, Marnie (2007) History Goes to the Movies: Studying History on Film Routledge Primo search Rosenstone, Robert (2006) History on Film/Film on History Primo search Rosenstone, Robert (1994) Revisioning History: Film and the Construction of a New Past Primo search Westwell, Guy (2006) War Cinema: Hollywood on the Front Line Wallflower Press Primo search White, Hayden The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation 1990 Primo search Woll, Josephine (2003) The Cranes are Flying (KinoFile 7) I.B. Tauris Primo search Youngblood, Denise (2007) Russian War Films: On the Cinema Front, 1914-2005 University Press of Kansas Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6