Polish Cinema (318-0-1)
Instructors
Michal Janusz Wilczewski
1880 Campus Drive
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-425: Mon 3:30PM - 6:20PM
Overview of class
This course will survey Polish film (all subtitled) from its earliest beginnings at the turn of the 20th century to the present day. We will begin by watching Poland's earliest talkies and films of the interwar period before discussing the Holocaust and Stalinism and its "thaw" on film during the communist era. From there, we will discuss the Polish Film School and the Cinema of Morality Anxiety. Further, we will analyze themes of absurdism and the subversive, and later examine the changing forms, subjects, and elements of films in post-1989 Poland. We will watch films by such directors as Juliusz Gardan, Stanisław Bareja, Andrzej Wajda, Wanda Jakubowska, Aleksander Ford, Krzysztof Kieślowski, and Paweł Pawlikowski. Previously taught as Slavic 392.
Learning Objectives
• Students will gain an appreciation for Polish cinema and be able to discuss Polish contributions to international Film Studies
•Students will learn about the cinematic and cultural history of Poland over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries with an emphasis on the intersection of film and politics
•Students will learn about major political and historical phenomena in Poland during the 20th and 21st centuries, including the First and Second World Wars, the Holocaust, the rise and fall of Communism, and Post-Socialism
•Students will examine film as a genre of artistic expression through close formal study including mise-en-scene, narrative, cultural/historical, and semiotic analysis
•Students will learn to analyze film both verbally and in writing focusing on interpretation, criticism, and aesthetics
•Students will learn about diverse approaches to and schools of film in Polish cinematic history and how these approaches were influenced or responded to one another, especially films of morality, Holocaust film, Socialist Realism, the Polish School of Film, the Cinema of Moral Anxiety, and absurdism
•Students will consider the concept of national cinema, placing Polish Cinema in conversation with and in context of other cinematic traditions especially international silent films, Socialist Realism, Italian Neorealism, and Postwar Trauma
•Students will reflect on how film can be a form of resistance, particularly during totalitarian regimes with heavy censorship; students will learn to analyze films for transgressive symbols that work to undermine state power
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity