Modern Languages and Cultures

The information contained in this module specification was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen circumstances, or following review of the module at the end of the session. Queries about the module should be directed to the member of staff with responsibility for the module.
Title PROPAGANDA AND CENSORSHIP
Code FILM202
Coordinator Dr AF Plowman
Languages, Cultures and Film
Afp0001@liverpool.ac.uk
Year CATS Level Semester CATS Value
Session 2022-23 Level 5 FHEQ First Semester 15

Pre-requisites before taking this module (other modules and/or general educational/academic requirements):

 

Modules for which this module is a pre-requisite:

 

Co-requisite modules:

 

Teaching Schedule

  Lectures Seminars Tutorials Lab Practicals Fieldwork Placement Other TOTAL
Study Hours 11

11

      1

23
Timetable (if known)              
Private Study 127
TOTAL HOURS 150

Assessment

EXAM Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
             
CONTINUOUS Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
Blog There is a resit opportunity. Standard UoL penalty applies for late submission. This is an anonymous assessment.    15       
Coursework essay 2 There is a resit opportunity. Standard UoL penalty applies for late submission. This is an anonymous assessment.    50       
Group Wiki / Blog There is a resit opportunity. Standard UoL penalty applies for late submission. This is an anonymous assessment.    35       

Aims

To provide students with an insight into the interaction of film and political authority, the structures which the authorities use or have used in order to exert control on the cinema and the ways in which cinema’s power over its audience has been harnessed, manipulated or occasionally feared to the point of suppression;

To examine specific films, scenes from them and the controversies around them as case studies of the interaction of film and political and /or other authority;

To introduce students to theoretical debates about propaganda and censorship in Film Studies.


Learning Outcomes

(LO1) Students will gain a differentiated understanding of the way in which political and other authorities have sought to control, harness and curb the power of film in different historical situations.

(LO2) Students will gain an awareness of film’s position in national institutional structures and the effect of these onthe finished product and a historical perspective on the perceived purpose of and limits on film production in Europe.

(LO3) Students will develop an alertness to the ways in which film may seek to manipulate the viewer and a critical attitude to the theories that have been constructed regarding the effects of film on its audience.

(LO4) Students will develop an ability to use different kinds of textual evidence to present a balanced and sophisticated argument about complex issues of representation and control and to reach a reasoned conclusion recognising the power of social attitudes and desires in the formulation and conduct of debates in these fields.

(S1) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Presentation skills – oral

(S2) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Media analysis

(S3) Critical thinking and problem solving - Critical analysis

(S4) Research skills - All Information skills


Teaching and Learning Strategies

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture
Description: Lectures provide an introduction to key topics and films
Attendance Recorded: No
Notes: There are two lectures in week one and two seminars in week two; thereafter the pattern is one lecture/one seminar per week. The purpose of lectures is to introduce key concepts.

Teaching Method 2 - Seminar
Description: Seminars provide an opportunity to discuss material and scenes from films. Typically they are based on the thematic and stylistic analysis of scenes from the films viewed.
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Notes: There are two lectures in week one and two seminars in week two; thereafter the pattern is one lecture/one seminar per week. The purpose of seminars is to explore key concepts in practice using extracts from the films covered.

Teaching Method 3 - Other
Description: Essay consultation: students are encouraged to talk to their tutors about an essay plan; they are also encouraged to seek further feedback .
Attendance Recorded: No
Notes: Essay Plan Consultation, Essay Feedback Consultation

Skill / other attribute 1:
Research skills - all information skills.
How this is developed:
Lectures, seminars, essay plan consultation, feedback consultation, blog.

Skill / other attribute 2:
Critical thinking and problem solving - critical analysis.
How this is developed:
Lectures, seminars, essay plan consultation, feedback consultation, blog.

Skill / other attribute 3:
Communication (oral, written and visual) - media analysis.
How this is developed:
Lectures, seminars, essay plan consultation, feedback consultation, blog.

Skill / other attribute 4:
Communication (oral, written and visual) - presentation skills – oral.
How this is developed:
Seminars.


Syllabus

 

Using some of the most controversial films ever made as case studies, this module examines the relation between film, political authority and public morality. The module examines films from the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, the German Democratic Republic, France, Italy, Spain and China. All films are shown with English subtitles and the modules is suitable for all students in HSS interested in film, propaganda and censorship. All films are subtitled in English if not in English. Topics will include: Introduction: What is propaganda? Soviet cinema and Eisenstein's October (1927); National Socialist cinema I: Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1934) and The Eternal Jew (Hippler, 1934)*; East German Film and the censorship of Maetzig's I am the Rabbit (1965); Political propaganda and censorship in Eastern Europe: Man of Marble (Wajda, 1977); Italian Cinema and Propaganda under Mussolini; Censorship and the politics of film in Spain under Franco; Italy, France and The Battle of Algiers (1965); topics in propaganda and censorship in Chinese film. * The Eternal Jew is not available commercially because of its content and it is not in the SJL. It is loaned from the educational collection of the Imperial War Museum.


Recommended Texts

Reading lists are managed at readinglists.liverpool.ac.uk. Click here to access the reading lists for this module.