Learning objectives
The course aims to offer to the students useful tools for the study of the XXth century American culture through the lens of cinema. Moreover, the course implies a strong interaction between the teacher and the students, in order to implement their skills for confrontation and discussion. and the comprehension of the American cinema as a crucial form of communication in the XX century, both from an aesthetic and a social perspective. The main goal is to improve students' methodology, judging, and communicative skills.
Course unit content
The course will focus on stylistic and social aspects of the years from the silent era to the classical period through the analysis of some exemplar movies. The method will mainly refer to cognitive and neurocognitive film studies.
1. Origins of the studios
2. Theories and teaching in 1910s and 1920s
3. Shaping audiences
4. From the cinema of attractions to narrative cinema
5. The concept of action
6. The first authors
7. The first forms of film genre
8. Stylistic canons
9. The sound era
10. Toward new stylistic forms
11. The classical perios
12. The new spectators
13. Understanding the movie: a cognitive approach to film style
14. The primitive style and the human body: forms of resonance
15. The classical style and the sensory-motor contact with the viewer
Bibliography
D. Bordwell, K. Thompson, "Storia del cinema. Un'introduzione", McGraw-Hill, Milano (pp. 19-30; 38-46; capitoli 7-8-11-16-19-20);
M. Hansen, "Babele e Babilonia", Kaplan, Torino (Parte prima);
V.O. Freeburg, "L'arte di fare film", a cura di M. Guerra, Diabasis, Parma;
V. Gallese, M. Guerra, "Embodying Movies: Embodied Simulation and Film Studies", in "Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image", 3, 2012;
V. Gallese, M. Guerra, "Film, corpo, cervello: prospettive naturalistiche per la teoria del film", in "Fata Morgana" (forthcoming);
M. Guerra, "Cinema and Cognitive Neuroscience: Toward a Naturalization of Film Experience?", in J. Luzzi (ed.), "The Total Art" (forthcoming).
Teaching methods
Lectures will be frontal and some movies will be presented and projected in order to exemplify the main topics of the course. The lectures will be implemented by a seminar, in which the active interaction and participation will be welcomed and evaluated.
Assessment methods and criteria
The final exam will be oral. Students' abilities in understanding, applying, judging, and exposing will be verified. The final grade will refer to the quality of the abovementioned standards.
