How do films structure values and desires? What is propaganda? Is there a politics of narration? These and other deeply contemporary questions of media history and theory will be explored through an interdisciplinary interrogation of key works of expressionist, documentary, proletarian, avant-garde, queer, horror, and paranoid-thriller cinema (both silent and sound) produced in Germany during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Films and texts will be subjected to close readings, situated in their socio-political, media-historical and cultural context, and examined in light of the reigning debates in film criticism and aesthetics.
Prerequisites and Restrictions
Taught in English; German-language competence and/or prior background in film history or theory, while desirable, are not required. Due to the interdisciplinary character of the course (which will also consider film in relation to theater, painting, photography and sound arts), it is of particular interest to students in literature, visual arts, art history, music, architecture, history and sociology.
