SCHEDULE (subject to change)

Week 1 Let’s Start at the Beginning: Or, What IS Central Europe?

Screening: Jiří Menzel, Closely Watched Trains. (CZ)

Keywords: Central Europe, History, Ethnicity

Required Readings:

Milan Kundera, “The Tragedy of Central Europe”

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, “Introduction” p.1-7,

Supplemental Readings:

Tony Judt, Borderlands, “The Coming of the Cold War” pp. 140-149

Week 2 What is ‘National’ Cinema, and How Do We Talk About It?

Screening: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos – The Little Shop on Main Street (SK)

Keywords: Nationalism, Movie Making

Required Readings:

James Monaco, How to Talk About Film,Chapter 2 “Art and Technology” (selected excerpts)

Ľubica Mystríková, The Cinema of Central Europe, “Obchod na korze, A Shop on the High Street” pp. 97 – 105

Supplemental Reading:

Andrew Higson, Film and Nationalism “The Concept of National Cinemas” Pp. 52-67

Week 3 Politics and Form

Screening : Věra Chytilová, Daises (CZ)

Keywords: Formalism, Subversion, Gender

Readings:

Peter Hames “Věra Chytilová” p.183-201

Zdena Skupinová, „Sedikrásky / Daisies” p. 129-136

David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction, p.406, 428.

Supplemental Reading:

Egon Bondy, Selected Poems

Vaclav Havel, et al. “Charta 77”

Week 4 Puppets and Nations (Midterm 1 Due on Friday)

Screening: Jiří Trnka, Old Czech Legends (CZ)

Keywords: Mixed Media, Puppetry, Animation

Readings:

Fernand Leger, “The Machine Aesthetic: Geometric Order and Truth”

Pyotr Bogatryev- “Czech Puppet Theatre and Russian Folk Theatre” http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_drama_review/v043/43.3bogatyrev.html

Supplemental Reading: Tony Judt Borderlands, “Into the Whirlwind” [excerpts], pp.187-193

Week 5 Politics and Films

Screening: Jan Nemec, Report on the Party and the Guests (CZ)

Keywords: Allegory, Dissidence, Show Trials

Readings:

Antonín Liehm, Closely Watched Films “Jan Nemec”,

Peter Hames – “Jan Nemec” 167-183

Tony Judt, Borderlands, pp. 199-203, 436-449

Supplemental Readings:

Franz Kafka, “The Trial” ("Before the Law"/"Vor dem Gesetz")

Week 6 Surreal Slovakia: The Slovak Avant-Garde

Screening: Juraj Jakubisko, Birds, Orphans, and Fools (SK)

Keywords: Ethnocentrism, The Slovak Problem

Peter Hames: “The Slovak Wave: Juraj Jakubisko, Elo Havetta, and Dušan Hanák” p.212-223

Martin Votruba, “Historical and National Background of Slovak Filmmaking”, KinoKultura. http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/votruba.shtml

Suplemental Reading:

Petra Hanáková, “The Anti-Czech Agenda of Slovak Films 1939-1945” (excerpts)

Stanislaus Kirchbaum, Slovakia : The Struggle for Survival, “The Slovak Problem”

Week 7 The Genre Film(Midterm 2 Due on Friday)

Screening: Oldřích Lipský, Limonádový Joe (or the Horse Opera) (CZ)

Keywords: Genre, Spectacle, Escapism

Readings:

Thomas Schatz, “Film Genre and the Genre Film”

David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction. “New Twists on Old Genres” p.314-316

Supplemental Reading:

Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle, (excerpts)

Week 8 Folklore and Fantasy: Slovak Surrealism Revisited

Screening: Elo Havetta, Party in the Botanical Garden (SK)

Keywords: Visual Culture, Folklore, Magical Realism

Readings:

Jana Dudková, “Celebration in the Botanical Garden” KinoKultura.

http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/dudkova.shtml

Václav Macek, “From Czechoslovak to Czech and Slovak Film”, KinoKultura. http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/macek.shtml

Antonín Liehm : “Elo Havetta”

Supplemental Reading:

Andrew Sarris, “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962”

Week 9 Black Comedy

Screening : Miloš Forman, The Firemen’s Ball (CZ)

Keywords: Black Humor, Farce, Slapstick

Required Readings:

Peter Hames “The Forman School: Milos Forman” pp.106-127

David Bordwell, Film History : An Introduction. Pp.426-427