Module Description
Decolonising Approaches to Film Analysis provides a foundational platform to undertake a scholarly appraisal of film from international perspectives and viewpoints that both involve and traverse beyond dominant Hollywood and European cinema frameworks. The module presents insights into a diverse palette of transglobal films, an array of cultural contexts, scholarly literature, theoretical and philosophical frameworks. The module opens an opportunity to develop an understanding of what decolonising actually means in a cinema context with the goal of enabling students to broaden analytical horizons and cultivate a globally representative sensibility whilst undertaking a more inclusive and holistic scholarly reading of films.
In Semester One, under the theme of ‘Authorship and Diverse Approaches to Film Representation’ we will appraise the work of iconic auteurs such as Naomi Kawase and Ingmar Bergman, and we will also problematise the dominant archetype of the author as ‘white, western and male’. Alongside the study of critical debates around auteur theory, the module will affirm the pathbreaking contributions of independent female filmmakers in the 21st century. We will delve into diverse arenas of film, investigating how 'global auteurs' and film forms are shaped and mediated through multiple approaches that blend and experiment with genre and narrative to represent marginalised communities and regions often eclipsed or ignored by dominant US and European cinemas. In this decolonising context, we will explore road movie representations of refugee and asylum seeker journeys, LGBTQ+ films and hyperlink cinema.
In the Second Semester, we will analyse more multidimensional modes, types and forms of film and their interpretation of globally relevant themes and issues. This includes diverse types of filmmaking such as postcolonial and accented films. We will also explore innovative forms in creative documentary, amateur and personal cinema, film industries and sustainable production practices and the blending of fiction and nonfiction practiced by international filmmakers alongside discussions around representations on activism from global perspectives and Eastern philosophical approaches to film.
Decolonising Approaches to Film Analysis provides a foundational platform to undertake a scholarly appraisal of film from international perspectives and viewpoints that both involve and traverse beyond dominant Hollywood and European cinema frameworks. The module presents insights into a diverse palette of transglobal films, an array of cultural contexts, scholarly literature, theoretical and philosophical frameworks. The module opens an opportunity to develop an understanding of what decolonising actually means in a cinema context with the goal of enabling students to broaden analytical horizons and cultivate a globally representative sensibility whilst undertaking a more inclusive and holistic scholarly reading of films.
In Semester One, under the theme of ‘Authorship and Diverse Approaches to Film Representation’ we will appraise the work of iconic auteurs such as Naomi Kawase and Ingmar Bergman, and we will also problematise the dominant archetype of the author as ‘white, western and male’. Alongside the study of critical debates around auteur theory, the module will affirm the pathbreaking contributions of independent female filmmakers in the 21st century. We will delve into diverse arenas of film, investigating how 'global auteurs' and film forms are shaped and mediated through multiple approaches that blend and experiment with genre and narrative to represent marginalised communities and regions often eclipsed or ignored by dominant US and European cinemas. In this decolonising context, we will explore road movie representations of refugee and asylum seeker journeys, LGBTQ+ films and hyperlink cinema.
In the Second Semester, we will analyse more multidimensional modes, types and forms of film and their interpretation of globally relevant themes and issues. This includes diverse types of filmmaking such as postcolonial and accented films. We will also explore innovative forms in creative documentary, amateur and personal cinema, film industries and sustainable production practices and the blending of fiction and nonfiction practiced by international filmmakers alongside discussions around representations on activism from global perspectives and Eastern philosophical approaches to film.
