Postcolonial sites par excellence, France's multicultural urban centres and banlieues embody what Edouard Glissant called the Tout-Monde. In what ways does contemporary French cinema, a powerful societal mirror, reflect the Tout-Monde at the heart of postcolonial France?
Alternating class viewings and analysis of a corpus of five contemporary films by ethnic majority and minority French filmmakers, this class will consider these cinematic representations, contextualizing them within France's postcolonial history and contemporary social relations. Students will learn to read and deconstruct these works' different representations and perspectives, taking into account what cultural theorist Stuart Hall termed the "position of enunciation" of their filmmakers (who speaks, who films).
These filmic analyses will be further contextualized and complemented by readings of theoretical postcolonial, sociological and cultural studies texts.
Melissa THACKWAY
Séminaire
English
*Screen-Free class
Students will be expected to view the entire film corpus, and to read the extracts/articles given on average every fortnight. They will be asked to prepare a class group presentation of one of the films during the semester and to participate in collective discussions of all the works, demonstrating both personal reflection and informed research, and their ability to think about, analyse and contextualize the films clearly. A final essay will be set at the end of the semester, requiring an overall understanding of the films and the representational issues/context discussed throughout.
As not all of the films studied are available with English subtitles, students will be expected to manage to follow a French-language film, with the help of an overall plot resumé.
Spring 2023-2024
MODALITÉS D'ÉVALUATION
Class presentation 45%
Final paper 45%
Class participation 10%
Séances et programme *
Séance 1 : General introduction – postcolonial France, history, sociology, urbanism, representation, positions of enunciation.
Séance 2 : Languages and spaces of inclusion/exclusion
Introduction and viewing of l'Esquive by Abdellatif Kechiche
Séance 3 Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound.
Séance 4 : Gender, violence
Introduction and viewing of Bande des filles by Céline Sciamma
Séance 5 : Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound.
Séance 6 : Friendships, relationships, sexuality, institutional violence
Introduction and viewing of Divines by Houda Benyamina
Séance 7 :
Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound.
Séance 8 : Family, community, cultural rooting
Introduction and viewing of Fatima by Philippe Faucon
Séance 9 : Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound. Séance 10 : Third Spaces, hybridity
Introduction and viewing of Rengaine by Rachid Djaidani
Séance 11 : Analysis of film / student presentations: representations, spaces, themes, characters, image, sound. Séance 12 : Semester conclusions.
* For reasons of availability, and according to new releases, the films announced may be subject to changes, but the general themes of the programme will remain unchanged.
Extracts of, or articles by: Edward Said,Orientalism ; bell hooks, Marginality as a Site of Resistance ; Stuart Hall, New Ethnicities ; Trinh T. Minh-ha, No Master Territories ; Kimberlé Crenshaw, Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex ; Ramon