Film 375 - Screening the Holocaust

Institution:

Washington University in St Louis

Subject:

Description:

The course surveys ways in which the story of the Holocaust is conveyed through film. Focusing on the individual and aesthetic pleasure, modern Western film seems to be an inappropriate genre to depict the German mass murdering of 6 million Jews. But since the broadcasting of the NBC series Holocaust in 1975, feature films have replaced documentaries and historiographies in educating the public about the traumas of the unprecedented genocide. With the continuing impact of the Holocaust on Jewish, American, and German identity and politics, Holocaust films are more scrutinized than any other genre. We examine these aesthetic and philosophical controversies as well as the narrative and editing strategies filmmakers use to relate collective history and individual trauma. Special attention is given to the complex cinematographic perspectives on human agency in a world of bureaucratically administered killing. In the course, we try to close the gap between reading film theory and watching a Holocaust movie: we analyze the properties of cinematic language, reconstruct the sociohistorical and psychological formation of memory and imagination, and even question our own evaluation of a film. Screenings include Shoah; The Wannsee Conference; Europa, Europa; Enemies, A Love Story; Jakob the Liar; Schindler's List; and Life Is Beautiful. Required screenings.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wustl.edu

Phone Number:

(314) 935-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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