History of Narrative Cinema - bmc.HART.B170.001.SP24

This course surveys a global history of narrative film from 1941 through contemporary cinema. We will analyze a chronological series of styles and national cinemas, including Classical Hollywood, Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, Das Neue Kino, China’s Sixth Generation, and other post-war movements and genres. Viewings of canonical films will be supplemented by more recent examples of global cinema. While historical in approach, this course emphasizes the theory and criticism of the sound film, and we will consider various methodological approaches to the aesthetic, socio-political, and psychological dimensions of cinema. Readings will provide historical context, and will introduce students to key concepts in film studies such as realism, formalism, spectatorship, the auteur theory, and genre studies. Counts toward the History of Art major or minor. Fulfills the history requirement or the introductory course requirement for the Film Studies minor.