The history of US film is marked by moments of highly cinematic visual spectacle: King Kong climbing the Empire State Building; the shower scene in Psycho; the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey; the beach landing in Saving Private Ryan. All these moments engage the audience with a focus on the visual pleasure that the filmic medium is able to create, immersing the spectator in it. In exploring our fascination with the spectacular nature of the moving image, we will engage, among others, with these questions: How can a variety of different bodies be displayed and gazed upon? How is the visual pleasure that characterizes horror films, in watching "bodies that splatter," constructed? How can nature be visually romanticized and/or exoticized? How can images of otherness elicit feelings of identification and/or abjection in an audience?
In this seminar, we will discuss and theorize different conceptualizations of spectacle. We will analyze a variety of films with the use of critical theory, discussing aspects such as gender, queerness, race, class, and disability. The seminar will enable students to deepen their understanding of American culture, to explore various canonical theories, to analyze and develop an original argument about a film of their choice in a portfolio exam.
- Trainer/in: Eleonora Ravizza