Film and Philosophy

Subject 760-425 (2009)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2009.

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 4 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 1-hour lecture, a 2-hour tutorial and a 2-hour film screening per week
Total Time Commitment: 5 contact hours/week , 4 additional hours/week. Total of 9 hours per week.
Prerequisites: For BCA students 12.5 points of second year visual media. For BA students 37.5 points of second/third year cinema studies or admission to the BA (Honours) in cinema studies.
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Contact

Creative Arts Office Phone: 8344 8389
Subject Overview: This subject looks at how a number of influential philosophical concepts have permeated (and been exemplified) in recent cinema. The subject begins by examining the ideas of Plato, and through an examination of mimesis and memory explores how his philosophical legacy endures in the representations of popular and experimental film, and reshaped within the context of postmodern practice.
Objectives:
  • apply analytic, cognitive and practical skills to the planning and successful completion of a set task within a given time;
  • demonstrate a familiarity with a broad range of media-related materials and a knowledge of various theoretical approaches to the interpretation and analysis of visual material;
  • demonstrate some critical understanding of the debates that divide the theoretical arena;
  • understand and feel comfortable with the various analytic skills, theoretical vocabularies and conceptual apparatuses studied;
  • demonstrate a sense of their own personal and cultural reflexivity as they observe and interpret the theories, concepts and texts analysed in the subject;
  • write clear, grammatically and syntactically appropriate, independent essays on the various topics provided or chosen for assessment.
Assessment: Written work equivalent to 4000 words for 3rd year, and 5000 words for 4th year, comprising two essays of equal length 50% each (one due mid-semester and the second due at end of semester).
Prescribed Texts: A subject reader will be available.
Breadth Options:

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • identify the aesthetic and philosophical precepts of contemporary cinema;
  • demonstrate a developed and analytical understanding of issues relating to the literal and metaphorical representation of philosophical ideas in contemporary cinema;
  • express a broadened awareness of modernist and postmodernist aesthetics and artistic practice in respect of contemporary filmmaking; and
  • make informed critical judgements about such films.
Notes: Formerly available as 760-422 A Focussed Study in the Media. Students who have completed 760-422 are not eligible to enrol in this subject. BA students may credit this subject to a Cinema Studies major.
Related Course(s): Bachelor of Creative Arts
Bachelor of Creative Arts and Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Creative Arts and Bachelor of Teaching
Bachelor of Creative Arts(Honours)
Diploma in Creative Arts
Master of Arts Management
Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Management
Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Arts
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Cinema Studies
Cinema Studies
Cinema Studies

Download PDF version.