Law, Ritual and Love. Sociological Explorations of Contemporary Cinema

fakultatywne
języki obce

Ability to actively participate in in-class discussions

Ability to write an essay interpreting a film of one’s choice

General interest in contemproary social theory

Interdisciplinarity

zdalnie

Cinema remains much richer than cinematic sociology. Since sociologists too often tend to reduce the arts to their stock-in-trade concepts (race, gender, class etc.), the goal of the course is to elevate our theorizing to address the most important human and humane phenomena contemporary films point to: the principles of social unity and conflict. The course will provide the opportunity to look from an interdisciplinary perspective at wide range of works: masterpieces as well as blockbusters, produced at different times (from the fifties till now) and places (from Poland and Czechoslovakia through Denmark and Italy to the US). This in turn will serve us to go beyond films to understand our contemporary society with its most fundamental processes. Specifically, I will draw attention to law, ritual and love as basic principles structuring human cultures.

In theorizing XXth century society, contemporary cinema has become one of the most inspiring sources since at least the times of Walter Benjamin. More recently Zygmunt Bauman, Slavoy Zizek and Frederic Jameson reached out for films to define the nature of our time. Although cinema might seem most modern art, it tells and retells stories that stem from the sources of our culture and resonate with our most fundamental preconceptions. These are stories of conflict and reconciliation, war and peace, life and death, and finally – stories about love.

Cinema remains much richer than cinematic sociology. Since sociologists too often tend to reduce the arts to their stock-in-trade concepts (race, gender, class etc.), the goal of the course is to elevate our theorizing to address the most important human and humane phenomena contemporary films point to: the principles of social unity and conflict. The course will provide the opportunity to look perspective at wide range of works: masterpieces (Chinatown, The Shop on Main Street) as well as blockbusters (Runaway Bride, The Wolf of Wall Street), produced at different times (from Ashes and Diamonds from the fifties till The Great Beauty of 2013) and places (from Poland and Czechoslovakia through Denmark and Italy to the US). This in turn will serve us to go beyond films to understand our contemporary society with its most fundamental processes. Specifically, I will draw attention to law, ritual and love as basic principles structuring human cultures. To support my claim, we will draw on most important works of the contemporary humanities: sociology, philology, history, political science, psychoanalysis and last but not least anthropology.

K_W01 Knows and understands basic concepts of various sub-domains of sociology (e.g. law, ritual, liturgy, peace, war, love, beauty)

K_W03 Is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes conducted in modern sociology; is reflective and critical of various positions

K_U04 Can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in Polish and a foreign language as well as modern technologies

K_U16 Knows how to interpret the role of culture in the life of the individual and society

K_U17 Can relate an academic text to the problems of social life and its empirical studies

Możliwe są dwie nieobecności studenta. W przypadku niedostarczenia ostatecznej wersji artykułu do 28.01.2020, można odda pracę do 5.03.2020.