Seminar Geschichte des deutschen Films

Fall 1996

Syllabus

AC 138 Wed 2:30-3:30 pm

phone: 455-2003 (o) or by appointment

202-965-0322 (h)

fischett@umbc.edu

Last year, we celebrated one hundred years of cinema. Cinema was born on December 28, 1895 in Paris with the Lumiere brothers' first public screening of ten short films. In Berlin, the Skladanowsky brothers had presented a series of short films several weeks earlier, yet theirs was not exclusively a cinema event.

The subject of this seminar is to study how German film, as a popular medium and as an art form, developed and changed over the past hundred years. We shall pay close attention to the most significants moments in history: the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the Adenauer years in the West, the post-war communist era in the East, and the rebellious sixties and seventies in the West. We shall read the films very closely, both with regard to the historical background and/or ideological content, and to their style. During the first part of the course, the focus will be on the early silent films and the films of the twenties. Next, we shall study films from the Nazi era. There will be less of an emphasis on the films of the fifties, since this is being studied in German 321: German Popular Film. The last segment of the course will deal with the New German Cinema.

Our three required texts are:

1. Korte, Helmut. Film und Realität in der Weimarer Republik

2. Courtade, Francis and Pierre Cadars. Geschichte des Films im Dritten Reich (Please note that since this book is out of print, I have placed a copy on 2-hr reserve in the Media Center)

3. Wenders, Wim. Die Logik der Bilder.

The seminar participants are encouraged to do additional readings. The following additional books have been placed on 3-day reserve in the Library (Please note that the umlauts are left out for an easier search in reserves) :

Der Film im 3. Reich. Hrsg. v. Gerg Albrecht

Edgar Reitz: Film als Heimat, hrsg. V. Reinhold Rauh

Eisner, Lotte. Die damonische Leinwand.

Fassbinder, Rainer Werner. Die Anarchie der Phantasie: Gesprache und Interviews

Fassbinders Filme. Hrsg. v. Michael Toteberg

Film in der DDR.

Fischetti, Renate. Das neue Kino

Fritz Lang: Filmbilder, Vorbilder, hrsg. v. Heide Schonemann

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1888-1988, hrsg. v.d. Stadt Bielefeld

G.W. Pabst, hrsg. v. Gottfried Schlemmer, Bernhard Riff, Georg Haberl

Grob, Norbert. Wenders / Norbert Grob

Die Kinofilme / Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Hrsg. v. Michael Toteberg

Kunzel, Uwe. Wim Wenders: ein Filmbuch

Pflaum, Hans Gunther. Film in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Hrsg. v. Peter W. Jansen und Wolfram Schutte

Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Werkschau

Reitz, Edgar. Kino: ein Gesprach mit Heinrich Klotz und Lothar Spree

Riefenstahl, Leni. Memoiren

Schlondorff, Volker. "Die Blechtrommel": Tagebuch einer Verfilmung

Schobert, Walter. Der deutsche Avant-Garde-Film der 20er Jahre

Wenders, Wim. The act of seeing: Text und Gesprache

In addition, the following texts may prove helpful to students:

Monaco, James. How to Read a Film (on reserve, 2-hour limit)

Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing About Film (In the Reference Section of the Library)

It is expected that all seminar participants come to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings and the films. Participation is extremely important (40% of the grade!). Following is the seminar schedule with a list of the assignments:

September 4 Introduction

Screenings: Lumiere shorts, excerpts from Asta Nielsen shorts, excerpts from Lubitsch shorts, Berlin, Symphony of a City

Readings: sections 2.1 (pp. 25-33), and 2.3 (pp. 43-50)

September 11 The Silent Era, I

Screening: Madame Dubarry

Readings: sections 3.1.2 and 3.1.3, as well as all sections 3.2 and 3.3 (pages 54-83)

September 18 The Silent Era, II

Screening: Die freudlose Gasse

Readings: sections 3.4 (pages 84-89) and part II, sections 1.1 (page 93), 1.3 (pp. 98-102)

September 25 "Arbeiterfilm"

Screening: Kuhle Wampe

Readings: 'Kuhle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt?' Eine exemplarische Analyse (pp. 169-212)

October 2 Introduction: Film during the Nazi Era

Screening: Robert Koch

Readings: "Nationalsozialismus und Film" and "Die Organisation des deutschen Filmwesens im Dritten Reich", Courtade, pp. 7-37

October 9 Nazi heros, I

Screening: Hitlerjunge Quex

Readings: "Der alltägliche Nationalsozialismus", Courtade, pp. 39-51

October 16 Leni Riefenstahl

Screening: Triumph des Willens

Readings: "Eine neue Religion: Der Nationalsozialismus", Courtade, pp. 52-67

October 23 The Nazis adopt great Germans of the past

Screening: Der grosse König

Readings: "Deutschland und seine Vergangenheit", Courtade, pp. 68-108

October 30 Preparation for war

Screening: Reitet für Deutschland

Readings: "Die Bewußtwerdung", Courtade, pp. 109-131

November 6 The good Nazi

Screening: Heimat or Wasser für Canitoga

Readings: "Die Deutschen daheim und im Ausland", Courtade, pp. 132-164

November 13 Nazi enemies

Screening: Jud Süß

Readings: "Freunde und Feinde", Courtade, pp. 165-197

November 20 War

Screening: Kolberg

Readings: "Der Krieg", Courtade, pp. 198-221

November 27 Entertainment

Screening: Unter den Brücken

Reading: "Die Unterhaltungsfilme", Courtade pp. 222-283

November 30 Introduction: The New German Cinema

Screening: Der Himmel über Berlin

Readings: Wenders. Die Logik der Bilder

December 4 Reports

December 11 Reports

Suggested Titles for Reports:

Der Golem

Spinnen

Faust

Die Nibelungen

Das blaue Licht

Der heilige Berg

Romanze in Moll

Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht

Andreas Schlüter

Der Blaufuchs

Der Postmeister

Eine Frau für alle Tage

Eine Nacht im Mai

Große Freiheit Nr. 7

Münchhausen

Quax der Bruchpilot

Kitty und die Weltkonferenz

Paracelsus

Romanze in Moll

Ohm Krüger

plus

any film by Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Margarethe von Trotta, Helma Sanders-Brahms (especially Deutschland bleiche Mutter)