Details

ONLINE FILM COURSE
“Women and Men in Post-War Italian Cinema Part III”

Course Description:

The Second World War leveled a fascist, then partisan Italy. Using real locations, a film movement emerged, now called Neorealism. However, we might just call the movement Realism, as Italy’s film, in the country’s confused void in post-war ethic, was the first to jump forth into social narratives of self-search within an economic blitz of poverty and pulchritude. Liberation freed depiction of gender, previously pinned by a fascist male narrative.

“Hey Ulysses! When do we get off the ship and see the world?” Or “What century are we in?” Science, the bomb, industry, and love either keep the individual in check, in fear or bequeath freedom, which is “just another word for nothing left to lose.”

-PREVIOUSLY TAUGHT COURSES –

Women and Men Part I:

“Let’s kick off the mud and get all dressed up… but where do we go?” While Hollywood still pushed a post-war glitz and glamour, Italian film challenged a changing social reality of women and men. Six legendary directors sailed through a self-examining dynamic of pre-war and post-war Italy.

Women and Men Part II:

“Tenacity and turbulence!” Or “Who Are We?” Five Italian directors explored historical and modern context for what congealed competitive communes, republics, and kingdoms into one remarkable confab of tourism — from the 1861 risorgimento founding of modern unified Italy to 1938 fascism on the day that Hitler came to Rome to meet Mussolini.

Course Objectives:

• To view the Western world’s social transformation through the lens of Italian film.
• To understand the alienation of post-modern women and men.
• To grasp the distinction that Italian cinema has endowed our modern film narrative.
• To enjoy movies on a more profound level beyond the simplistic formalism narrative of; plot, effects, stunts, and good vs bad people.

Virtual Classroom: Full access to an online educational platform with discussion forum, videos of recordings, syllabus, and exercises.

Location: LIVE INTERACTIVE ON-LINE FILM CLASSES

Complete syllabus will be provided upon registration.

• ALL LECTURES WILL BE RECORDED AND AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT YOUR CONVENIENCE IN OUR VIDEO LIBRARY FOR THE DURATION OF THE COURSE AND FOR 2 WEEKS AFTER

Schedule

LECTURE 1 – Frederico Fellini: La Strada

– Thursday, October 5

LECTURE 2 – Pietro Germi: Divorce Italian Style

– Thursday, October 12

LECTURE 3 – Michalangelo Antonioni: Red Desert 

– Thursday, October 19

LECTURE 4 – Vittorio de Sica: Garden Finzi-Continis

– Thursday, October 26

LECTURE 5 – Frederico Fellini: 8 1/2 

– Thursday, November 2

LECTURE 6 – Michelangelo Antonioni: Blow up

– Thursday, November 9

LECTURE 7 – Lina Wertmüller: Seven Beauties

– Thursday, November 16

Instructor

Weller has appeared in more than 70 films and television series, including RoboCop (1987) and its sequel RoboCop 2 (1990) (in which he played the title character), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). He has also appeared in such films as Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite (1995), the Oliver Stone-produced The New Age (1994), and David Cronenberg’s adaptation of William Burroughs’s novel Naked Lunch (1991).

While enrolled at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), he played trumpet in one of the campus bands. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and began his acting career after attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (class of 1972).

In 2004, Weller completed a Master of Arts degree in Roman and Renaissance Art at Syracuse University, and occasionally taught courses in ancient history at the university.

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