This course will be based on a historical survey of various approaches in classical and contemporary film theories as they relate to aesthetics. It will concentrate mainly on key theoretical texts, which will be explored and discussed in detail throughout the course in relation to major cinematic trends and movements, and their historical context. A relationship will be established between aesthetics components of films and socio-political and cultural dynamics specific to the historical period.
Historical milestones of cinema in its narrative and stylistic development will be the focus of the course. The struggle of alternative movements and manifests in the world cinema –african, latin american, eurpean, far east- against dominant aesthetics will be analyised throughout the specific films and seminal articles.
Vertical Tabs
Course Learning Outcomes
| Learning Outcomes | Program Learning Outcomes | Teaching Methods | Assessment Methods |
| 1) Recognize the aesthetics as philosophical concept and its relation with current critical theories in fim aesthetics. |
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14
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1 | A,C |
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2) Be aware and conceive the influences of the economic and technological transformations in the mode of production and aesthetics of film-making.
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3, 2, 5,6, 914 | 1,2,3,4 | A,B,C |
| 3) Analyse the films of directors, currents and their associated theories as the milestones of cinema | 2, 4, 11, 14 | 1,2,3,4 | A,B,C |
| 4) In the light of social and historical perspective, relate the recent theoretical frameworks such as Post kolonyalism, post structuralism, multiculturalism and postmodernism with the emerging aesthetics of film-making. | 6, 11, 14 | 1,2,3,4 | A,B,C |
Course Flow
| COURSE CONTENT | ||
| Week | Topics | Study Materials |
| 1 | Philosophical debates on art... |
Dick, George, Introduction to Aesthetics: An Analitical Approach, Oxford : Oxford university press , 1996
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| 2 | Enlightment and emerging the aesthetics as a discipline |
Eagleton, Terry, Literary Theory: an Introduction, Blackwell, 1997
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| 3 | First debates: what will cinema be? Telling or showing... Which aesthetics will win the history? |
Thomas Elsaesser and Adam Barker. (Ed) Early Cinema: Space, Frame, Narrative, London BFI, 19990
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| 4 | Is cinema an economy or art or politics? |
Allen, Robert C. ; Douglas Gomery Film History: Theory and Practice,Boston : McGraw-Hill , 1985
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| 5 | Birth of cinema and its spectator... Comparison of social aspects in the birth of hollywood industry to the development in the world |
Nowell Smith, Geoffrey (ed) The oxford History of World Cinema, Oxford 1997
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| 6 | Realism and formalism: Searching the specificity of cinema, or rather the place of an art in society |
Stam, R. & Miller, T., (eds), (2000), Film and Theory: An Anthology, Oxford: Blackwell,
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| 7 | Cinema as an apparatus of ideology? Through Marx and Gramsci to Althusser and Lacan |
Andrew Dudley, Concepts in Film Theory, Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press , 1984
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| 8 | Aesthetising of politics or politisized aesthetics | Benjamin, Walter, Understanding Brecht, 1973, |
| 9 | Searching for alternatives to the dominant narrative of cinema |
Stam, R. & Miller, T., (eds), (2000), Film and Theory: An Anthology, Oxford: Blackwell,
|
| 10 | Was Bertolt Brecht completely right in his alternative theory? |
Brecht, Bertolt, Epik Tiyatro, Say yayınları 1980
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| 11 | Why Godard so insisting in his style? What about Ken Loach, where will we put Tarkovski and Angelopoulous? |
Bordwell, David, On the history of Film Style, Harward, 1999
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| 12 | Orientalism: West and its narratives, representation of the east... |
Stam, R. & Miller, T., (eds), (2000), Film and Theory: An Anthology, Oxford: Blackwell,
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| 13 |
There must be traces to follow the alternative aesthetics outside the west: What about South America, Turkey, India, far east?
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Nowell Smith, Geoffrey (ed) The oxford History of World Cinema, Oxford 1997
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| .14 | A particular achievements or “ the other”... Writing the the history of cinema in reverse. “Third cinema” and beyond. |
Stam, R. & Miller, T., (eds), (2000), Film and Theory: An Anthology, Oxford: Blackwell,
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| 15 | Multiculturalism and its roots in the history and theory... Are they hybrids or migrants or historical ethnic identites... Ethnic or aesthetic. |
Babha, Homi, “Nation and Narration”, Routledge, 2002
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Recommended Sources
| RECOMMENDED SOURCES | |
| Textbook |
Stam, R. & Miller, T., (eds), (2000), Film and Theory: An Anthology, Oxford: Blackwell,
Thomas Elsaesser and Adam Barker. (Ed) Early Cinema: Space, Frame, Narrative, London BFI, 19990 Parkinson David History of Film, New York, N.Y. : Thames and Hudson 2002 Andrew Dudley, Concepts in Film Theory, Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press , 1984 Easthope, Antony Contemporary Film Theory, London Longman, 1993 Allen, Robert C. ; Douglas Gomery Film History: Theory and Practice,Boston : McGraw-Hill , 1985 Bordwel, D. And Thompson, K. Film History: an Introduction, Boston : McGraw-Hill, , 2003 : 2nd ed. Babha, Homi, “Nation and Narration”, Routledge, 2002 Brecht, Bertolt, Epik Tiyatro, Say yayınları 1980 Eagleton, Terry, Literary Theory: an Introduction, Blackwell, 1997 Nowell Smith, Geoffrey (ed) The oxford History of World Cinema, Oxford 1997 Bordwell, David, On the history of Film Style, Harward, 1999 Dick, George, Introduction to Aesthetics: An Analitical Approach, Oxford : Oxford university press , 1996 Deleuze, Jilles, Cinema 1 Movement Image, Cinema 2: Time-Image, Continuum, 2005
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| Additional Resources | During the term, a long list of related articles and the excerpts from the books will be handed out. Students will responsible for them in addition to every week’s reading material. |
Material Sharing
| MATERIAL SHARING | |
| Documents | Students are responsible for the films with related subjects of the course. Additional homework would be furthered depending on their participance and the level of knowledge. |
| Assignments | Presentations and discussions of material and essays in everyweek, paper submission for the mid-term |
| Exams | Final paper |
Assessment
| ASSESSMENT | ||
| IN-TERM STUDIES | NUMBER | PERCENTAGE |
| Mid-terms | 1 | 30 |
| Assignments and presentations | 6 | 30 |
| Final Paper | 1 | 40 |
| Total | 100 | |
| CONTRIBUTION OF FINAL EXAMINATION TO OVERALL GRADE | 40 | |
| CONTRIBUTION OF IN-TERM STUDIES TO OVERALL GRADE | 60 | |
| Total | 100 | |
Course’s Contribution to Program
| COURSE'S CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM | ||||||
| No | Program Learning Outcomes | Contribution | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To develop the scientific cognition, comprehensive knowledge of critical theories, concepts and scientific data collection methods and to be competent in discussion skills in the field of media and communication. | X | ||||
| 2 | To be able to define and analyze the historical development of mass communication in relation with its social and cultural results. | X | ||||
| 3 | To be able to relate the contemporary concepts like post-modernism, globalization, post-colonialism, post-structuralism to the tradition of critical thought which is constructed on mass media. | X | ||||
| 4 | To be able to analyze and discuss the economical, political and cultural facts and developments which are mediated by the forms of mass media, and their impacts on social life. | X | ||||
| 5 | To be able to define the interdisciplinary structure of cultural studies and to be able to interpret the mutual effects between the traditional scientific disciplines and communication studies. | X | ||||
| 6 | To be competent in the classical and modern aesthetic theories established in audio, visual and written history of art, and to be able to analyze and discuss the narrative types and styles under the light of these theories. | X | ||||
| 7 | To be able to critically evaluate how political actions and actors in social life use mass media and the way that they take place in them, in connection with their sociopolitical results. | |||||
| 8 | To be able to comprehend the national and international relationship of broadcasting policies and to be able to evaluate the social and cultural causes and effects accordingly. | |||||
| 9 | To be able to recognize the economical and cultural operations at the national and international levels, through the relations of media ownership, their channels and the media products, and to be able to connect and combine with the marketing techniques and items. | X | ||||
| 10 | To be able to connect the marketing techniques, devises and styles with media theories, and to be able to examine the practice methods. | |||||
| 11 | To be able to name the theoretical studies on national and international film history and culture, and to be able to recognize the major examples and to correlate them with theories. | X | ||||
| 12 | To be competent in the distinct writing formats of narrative styles of film and television, and to be able to apply them. | |||||
| 13 | To be able to recognize the technical structures and potentials of the mass media, and to be able to follow the technological developments and to apply them. | |||||
| 14 | To be able to scrutinize advanced aesthetic approaches and the visual effects with the national and international examples and to be able to apply them skillfully. | |||||
| 15 | To be able to combine the narrative genres, the aesthetic approaches, technical knowledge and the theoretical knowledge in media and communication with a creative design, and to become skillful at embodying it with a project. | X | ||||
ECTS
| ECTS ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD BY THE COURSE DESCRIPTION | |||
| Activities | Quantity |
Duration (Hour) |
Total Workload (Hour) |
| Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Mid-terms | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| Assignments and presentations | 6 | 4 | 24 |
| Final examination | 1 | 20 | 20 |
| Total Work Load | 150 | ||
| Total Work Load / 25 (h) | 6 | ||
| ECTS Credit of the Course | 6 | ||