Department of English

The point of this course is to pursue the infiltrations of German film culture--the smuggling, as it were, of moral, political, intellectual and film-technical contraband—into Hollywood cinema. From the 1920s, when Berlin studios were capable of rivaling Hollywood, to the present, there has always been a lively and highly fraught German connection. Working with clusters of film involving noteworthy directors, cinematographers, writers, composers and stars, we’ll trace the convoluted paths of cultural insinuation. Among the players we’ll consider are: Marlene Dietrich, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Karl Freund, Greta Garbo, Werner Herzog, Friedrich Holländer, Emil Jannings, Fritz Lang, Peter Lorre, Ernst Lubitsch, Friedrich Murnau, Douglas Sirk, Joseph von Sternberg, Wim Wenders and many more. Topics include: the new woman, Expressionism and film noir, self-reflexivity in cinema, cultural contagion, film haptics, politics and propaganda.