LA 142 - Culture and Film:Viewing other cultures;seeing ourselves

Institution:

The Boston Conservatory

Subject:

Description:

This course examines the way that other cultures are represented in visual genres such as movies, ethnographic films and documentaries. We will study the way that non-western or "primitive"cultures are constructed to fulfill preconceptions of these cultures as romantic or natural, threatening or familiar, exotic or universal. We will also question the status of film as a medium of unfiltered reality, and consider the strategies that different visual genres use to convey the truths of their representations. Finally, we will investigate some experimental pieces that seek to break down the boundaries between "scientific" vs. "fictional" representation, and we will debathe effectiveness of these "ethnofictions" in evading the ethnocentric pitfalls of earlier works.Ultimately, in questioning how we view other cultures such as the Inuik, the San, the Amish, or Native Americans, we will be asking questions about how we see ourselves. Required Texts: The Gods Must Be Crazy ( DVD); Witness ( DVD); Dead Man ( DVD); Selected readings (classroom handout)

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.bostonconservatory.edu

Phone Number:

(617) 536-6340

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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