Department of English

Since World War II, a steady stream of different national cinemas have emerged around the world, offering alternative visions shaped by those different cultures. This course will examine four of those cinemas in depth, investigating the cultural and social circumstances that underpin them, the local and global pressures of the film industry at that time, the manifestos that often initiated those film movements, the aesthetic similarities and differences which shaped each new wave, and the evolution that describes the historical paths of each. We will examine four new wave cinemas in depth: the French New Wave, the New German Cinema, New Latin American Cinema, and New Chinese Cinema. Alongside a specific focus on the movements and their films, we will consider larger questions of nationhood, globalization, new media, and the purported dominance of Hollyworld as they become configured through film and media culture. There are no prerequisites. Requirements will include a 15-page research project.