Sumários
"Chacun son cinèma" (2007, vários realizadores)
23 Janeiro 2024, 09:30 • Ana Bela dos Ramos da Conceição Morais
Visualização do filme Chacun son cinèma (2007, vários realizadores).
Presentation of program and evalauation criteria + short literary close reading exercise
22 Janeiro 2024, 12:30 • Cecília Maria Beecher Martins
Literary close reading of “Asthma Attack” from The Girl on the Fridge (2008) Etgar Keret
Program
From the earliest cave drawings to the latest video
clips humankind has used artic media to tell the stories of their lived
experience, or projections of possibilities. Today, cinema and literature are
among the most popular storytelling media.
However, while, audiences are aware that they use
different techniques, they are not always aware that they employ different
languages. Films are often examined looking only at plot development,
performance of actors and so viewers miss out on the wealth of cinema.
Therefore, in this Curricular Unit, we will look at the structure of narrative,
and examine the “languages” of literature and cinema while discussing the tools
each art form uses to create narrative meaning.
Therefore, we will look briefly at the beginnings of
cinema and discuss the beginnings of narrative film and examine how early film
makers like George Melies understood that the cinematic medium offered
possibilities for storytelling that were not found in the theatre or
literature. Melies would leave a tremendous mark on the fledgling industry as
he uses these techniques to produce not only “real-life” magic tricks, but also
multi-faceted stories.
We will question why some stories are told and retold
e.g. Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, and examine how narrative structures change
according to medium e.g. Stephen Chbosky
in The Perks of being a Wallflower and Gillian Flynn in David Fincher’s Gone
Girl. We will close examining Christopher Nolan’s 1st person
narration in Oppenheimer.
Students will have to read the theoretical texts in
the course book as well as one of the set novels:
The Perks of being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 1999) or
Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn, 2012)
Teaching methodology and Evaluation Criteria:
A student-centered teaching approach
will be used following a task-based methodology. Materials will be presented in
an orderly succession so that students can build up their knowledge on subjects
discussed sequentially. A proactive posture will be expected from students.
They will be provided with a calendar indicating all of the readings/viewings
and evaluations at the beginning of the semester to prepare for these in
advance.
1st Written test: 30%
2nd Written test: 40%
Individual Oral Presentation (visual literacy applied to cinema or close
reading applied to a literary text): 15%
Attendance and participation (15%) This grade will require participation in the
reflective discussion. Each student will be responsible for the discussion
of at least one film or literary text.
As this CU is taught in
English class oral presentations must be made in English. Written evaluations
may be presented in English or Portuguese.
Bibliography
Cook, D. (2016). A History of Narrative Film. 5th
ed. W.W. Norton & Co.
Corrigan, T. & P. White. (2019). The Film
Experience: An Introduction 6th ed. Macmillan
Learning. Boston & New York.
Eagleton, T. (2013). How to Read Literature,
Yale University Press.
Hermann, D. (2011). The Cambridge Companion to Narrative 5th ed.. UK. Cambridge University Press.
Villarejo, A. (2021). Film Studies: the Basics 3rd Ed. London & New York: Routledge.