Universität Wien

124260 KO Critical Media Analysis (2016S)

''We all go a little mad sometimes': Reading Film with Hitchcock

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work

Alfred Hitchcock’s body of work spans six decades of British and American cinema, from the silent era through Hollywood’s “Golden Age” to the “New Hollywood” of the 60s and 70s. Long undervalued as a “Master of Suspense”, Hitchcock’s legacy has been reevaluated to that of a modernist auteur who blurred previous distinctions between popular and high culture. As a technical innovator, Hitchcock demonstrated that diverse cinematic techniques could be shaped into a powerful storytelling language. As a storyteller, he showed how this film language could be used to explore various twentieth-century concepts, anxieties, and thematic concerns, from murder and (im)morality, to eroticism and shared guilt, love and duty, psychoanalysis and death. For students interested developing greater media literacy in regard to film and popular culture, Hitchcock’s works are vital texts, and his influence on contemporary directors from Martin Scorsese to Christopher Nolan is profound and lasting.

In this course we will watch and discuss a key Hitchcock film from each era in order to introduce students to the central theoretical approaches and conceptual/technical tools of film and critical media studies. In the process, students will gain greater critical appreciation of (1) the technical tools of film by exploring how Hitchcock conveys narrative with images rather than dialogue, creates meaning through the framing of shots, and solicits certain effects through sound and editing; (2) the history of film by considering how Hitchcock exploits and evolves various film schools and genres (Soviet montage, German Expressionism, French New Wave); and (3) various theoretical concepts and analytical methodologies associated with film and visual text analysis (visual Semiotics, Gender studies, Psychoanalysis, neo-Marxism).
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Film Screenings: Thursday 10-12 a.m. room 5

  • Monday 07.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 10.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 14.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 17.03. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 04.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 07.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 11.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 14.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 18.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 21.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 25.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 28.04. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 02.05. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 09.05. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 12.05. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Thursday 19.05. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 23.05. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 25.05. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 1 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-05
  • Monday 30.05. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 02.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 06.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 09.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 13.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 16.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 20.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 23.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
  • Monday 27.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 30.06. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Students will be required to attend screenings throughout the semester on Thursday 10-12 Room 5 (or else organise an alternative means of viewing the films). A typical class will consist of a short introduction by the lecturer on a technical aspect of the film we have viewed and how it relates to a particular theme or theoretical concept. This will be followed by 2-3 student presentations. We will then hold small-group discussions on these techniques, themes, and critical methodologies as they relate to the film (or specific clips we can re-watch in class), sometimes in relation to a short secondary text students will have been asked to read in advance. Thematic and theoretical topics for discussion will include: “The Double Chase Plot”; “Doubles”; “Erotics and Voyeurism”; “Love and Duty”; “Shared Guilt”; “Meta-Cinema”; “Ideology”; “Representations of Gender”.

Assessment and permitted materials

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Presentation, Abstract (300 words), Essay (2500 words), Final Moodle Exam

Examination topics

Reading list

Association in the course directory

Studium: UF 344, BA 612, BEd 046
Code/Modul: UF 4.2.5-426, BA07.3; BEd 08a.2, BEd 08b.1
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260

Last modified: We 09.09.2020 00:22