Learning objectives
The course will provide means suitable for a theoretical approach to film, focusing on its aesthetic and philosophical impact, and allowing students to grasp the forms of dialogue between cinema and the XX century artistic and industrial system.
Course unit content
The course aims to cope with what we would call “the imaginary of theory”, that is the horizon of a theoretical hypothesis, placed between the historical reality of the film art and industry and the prophetic effort every theory implies. We will follow as a guide the crucial study by Edgar Morin “The Cinema or the Imaginary Man”, a rare example of theoretical book “malgré lui”. Starting from Morin we will follow some theoretical paths to reflect on past discourses and contemporary speculations. We will focus on the early film theories (which tried to reply to the very basic question “what cinema does”, or even “what the hell cinema is”), on classic film theories (“what is cinema”, “how does it work”), and on contemporary film theories (“where is cinema”).
Bibliography
E. Morin, Il cinema o l’uomo immaginario, Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2016
F. Casetti, La galassia Lumière. Sette parole per il cinema che viene, Bompiani, Milano, 2015
V. Gallese, M. Guerra, Lo schermo empatico. Cinema e neuroscienze, Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2015
ONE BOOK AMONG:
B. Balázs, L’uomo visibile, Lindau, Torino, 2008
V.O. Freeburg, L’arte di fare film, Diabasis, Parma, 2013
H. Münsterberg, Film. Uno studio psicologico, Bulzoni, Roma, 2010
S.M. Ejzenštejn, La forma cinematografica, Einaudi, Torino
H. Bredekamp, Immagini che ci guardano, Raffaello Cortina, Milano
Teaching methods
Frontal lecture. Movies will be presented during the course and the teacher will provide a list of films to be watched to integrate the topics of the course.
