Universität Wien
Warning! The directory is not yet complete and will be amended until the beginning of the term.

180071 KU Philosophy of Film (2022S)

Thinking with Hitchcock

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
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. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Our first session (07.03.) is an online session in Moodle!

  • Monday 07.03. 20:15 - 21:45 Digital
  • Monday 14.03. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 21.03. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 28.03. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 04.04. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 25.04. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 02.05. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 09.05. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 16.05. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 23.05. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 30.05. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 13.06. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 20.06. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 27.06. 20:15 - 21:45 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Drawing conclusions from intentionally placed clues we tend to suspend our disbelief in the plausibility of Hitchcock’s plots. And this, in fact, enables us to play the game of suspense his movies set out for us.

George Toles writes about this that „[t]he most compelling use of objects in movies is to make characters’ thoughts and feelings visible. In a Hitchcock film, the viewers’ thoughts, aligned with a character’s, may tilt in a certain iniquitous direction. As they do so, a material sign emerges to focus them sharply, giving form and solidity to their otherwise ephemeral existence. The thoughts that most fascinate Hitchcock, […] are those that might turn out to be sins. […] As we absorb these thought-pictures, the most arresting may prick us or spread within us like an ink blot. They may lodge in us as our own thoughts, even if we began by ,borrowing‘ them, and we can potentially become ,guilty parties‘ in our means of pursuing and elaborating them.“ (Toles 2011: 539)

Toles use of ‘thought-picture’ may already be a concept quoted from French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. – What is a thought-picture? Why do we need plausible fictional worlds to interpret the details we are supplied with? And what does it mean to talk about the world of a film or the camera-eye, the frame, the visual narrative …?

This course is an intro into film-philosophy. We will examine six of Hitchcock’s emblematic movies and discuss the topics of suspicion/prejudice and guilt/innocence and how they are linked to our interpretations of (supposed) clues.

Assessment and permitted materials

Your attendance is part of your final grade, you will be expected to hand in short written papers and participate in class discussions.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Erasmus+ students beware: This course is taught in German! You may write your assignments in English or French, but must be prepared to discuss matters in German, since most of your colleagues in the group will be German speakers.
The minimal requirement for completing this course is that you hand in seven assignments which are titled AUFGABE (= task) in Moodle. You will then be graded based on your submissions and your participation in our weekly class discussions. If you decide to write a BA paper in this course, the AUFGABEN-assignments will be reduced to four. You will, however, have to hand in a short exposé and a preliminary structure of your BA thesis during term instead.
By registering for this course, you tacitly agree to having all your electronic submissions checked by Turnitin.
You may miss two course units without consequence.
Your final grade will consist of the points you acquired in all written assignments (70 %) and your active participation (30 %). Thus you can earn a maximum of 50 credit points a term. Should your achievement be below or equal to 20 points or if you did not fulfill the minimal requirements, you will fail this course.

Examination topics

This is a course (= KUrs), thus no final exam.
The basis for your texts and discussions are the movies and texts listed below.

Reading list

All texts will be available in Moodle.

We will be discussing the following movies:
The Lodger | The 39 Steps | Strangers on a Train | Shadow of a Doubt | Notorious | North by Northwest | Vertigo

Relevant texts for this course are:

Abel, Richard (1986): „Notorious: Perversion par Excellence“, in: Marshall Deutelbaum & Leland Poague (eds.): A Hitchcock Reader. Ames: Iowa State Univ. Press, 162-168.
Barr, Charles (2012): Vertigo. London: bfi.
Branigan, Edward (2006): Projecting a Camera. Language-Games in Film Theory. New York & London: Routledge.
Cavell, Stanley (1981): „North by Northwest“, Critical Inquiry 7(4), 761-776.
Deleuze, Gilles (1989): „Die Krise des Aktionsbildes“, in: Das Bewegungs-Bild: Kino 1. Frankfurt a. Main: Suhrkamp, 264-288.
Perkins, Victor (2020): „Where is the World? The Horizon of Events in Movie Fiction“ [2005], in: V.F. Perkins on Movies. Collected Shorter Film Criticism. Edited by Douglas Pye. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 270-300.
Pippin, Robert B. (2017): The Philosophical Hitchcock. VERTIGO and the Anxieties of Unknowingness. Chicago u. London: University of Chicago Press.
Rohmer, Eric; Chabrol, Claude (2013): „Figur und Zahl: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)“, in: Hitchcock. Berlin: Alexander Verlag, 163-170.
Toles, George (2011): „Occasions of Sin: The Forgotten Cigarette Lighter and Other Moral Accidents in Hitchcock“, in: Thomas Leitch u. Leland Poague (eds.): A Companion to Hitchcock. Malden et al.: Wiley-Blackwell, 529-552.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Th 11.05.2023 11:27