2010-2011 Academic Catalog

Dec 21, 2024

2010-2011 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

COMM 249 - German Film and the Frankfurt School

In this course, we will survey the masterpieces of German-language cinema, beginning with such expressionist works of art as Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Murnau’s Nosferatu, Lang’s Metropolis and M, and Sagan’s Mädchen in Uniform. We will also study Nazi film, particularly Leni Riefenstahl’s work. Among the postwar directors that we study will be Fassbinder, Herzog and Wenders. Queer German film-makers such as Praunheim and Treut will receive special attention. The course will conclude with recent critical and popular successes such as Run Lola Run and The Lives of Others. As a critical lens, we will rely heavily on psychoanalytic and Frankfurt School criticism, focusing on writings by Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer and Theodor Adorno. In addition to class meetings, a weekly video screening of approximately two hours is required. All discussion in English. Students taking the course for German credit will be expected to watch the films without subtitles and complete written assignments in German; students taking the course for credit in Screen Studies or Communication and Culture will generally watch films with subtitles and write in English.

Cross Listed: GERM 250, SCRN 250

Instructor: Mr. Tobin

When Offered: Offered periodically

Faculty: Robert D. Tobin, Ph.D. - Professor; Henry J. Leir Chair in Foreign Languages and Cultures