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HL3004 World Cinema
Film and Empire
Semester 1, 2014
Mondays 2.30pm-6.30pm
HSS Seminar Room 8
Dr. Nadine Chan
HSS03-39
nadinechan@ntu.edu.sg
Course Description
The rise of cinema and visual media is inseparable from evolving articulations of imperialism in the
20th and 21st century. From the ethnographic documentation of indigenous people on film in the
1920s to the latest news footage of America’s war in the Middle East, the visual rendering of distant
corners of the globe by various imperial powers configured the world in ways that embodied
particular political and economic agendas. At the same time, other communities used the medium of
film to critique empire and its aftermath. In this course, we seek to understand cinema not simply as
entertainment, but as a contested medium shaped by broader histories of culture, power, and politics.
This course examines how empire (writ large) shaped the history of film globally, from the invention
of cinema at the turn of the 20th century to the proliferation of other media forms in the present day.
Course Goals
By the end of this course, students will
- understand and be able to articulate the impact of imperialism on film and media
- experience film and visual culture through a global framework
- understand concepts in empire studies such as colonialism, settler colonialism, Orientalism,
exceptionalism, neoliberalism, and global capitalism—and articulate how this is pertinent to our
world today
- develop critical thinking, research, and writing skills
Course Requirements
Participation and Preparation: 15%
Active and meaningful participation in class discussion is expected. Please come to class having done
the reading and kept abreast of the contributions on the blog for that week. Please bring copies of
the readings with you to class so we can discuss them.
In Class Presentation: 15%
You will give a 15-min presentation once during the semester. Presentations should address the
readings and the film. Don’t feel obliged to summarize the readings (or even agree with them);
rather, choose a point that the author makes and bring your own interpretation of that reading to the
film. Most importantly, pose thoughtful questions that will help generate class discussion to follow. I
would encourage you to also bring in comments that your colleagues have made in the blog posts
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(see below).
Blog Entries: 20%
We will be using a course blog at hl3004worldcinema.wordpress.com, as a central repository for
class ideas and a launch pad for our weekly discussions.
Each student is required to author at least 8 posts on the course blog. Each entry should be at least
300 words.
Posts are due at least 2 days before class that week to give me and the presenters time to read them
i.e. they will be due by Saturday 2pm the weekend before class. Late posts will not be counted
toward your grade. Meaning, if you submit all 8 posts in the last week of the semester, only one
will be counted toward your grade. Hence I encourage you to submit your posts early and often in the
semester.
Feel free to write in a casual tone; however entries should in some way provide insightful comment
on the readings and films assigned for the week. You are also highly encouraged to post images/texts
from outside course material and tie this back to our course content. You may also build your entries
in conversation with other posts developed by your colleagues.
Final Exam: 25%
A comprehensive (full-semester) final examination will be held on December 3rd, 2015 at 1pm.
Information will be provided closer to the date.
Final Research Paper: 25%
A final research paper is due in the final week of class, 1500 words. Information will be provided on
a separate handout closer to the date. I recommend that you meet with me before the paper is due to
go over your ideas and arguments.
Required Texts
Rony, Fatimah Tobing. Third Eye: Race, Cinema and Ethnographic Spectacle. Durham and London:
Duke University press, 1996. ISBN-13: 978-0822318408.
Shohat, Ella and Stam, Robert. Unthinking Eurocentrism, London and New York: Routledge, 1994.
ISBN: 9780415063258
Franz Fanon. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press, 1963 (2004). ISBN: 978-0-80214132-3
All other readings will be available electronically. All films will be screened in class and/or will be
available at the library.
Statement for Students with Disabilities
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with
the Accessible Education Unit (AEU). A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be
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obtained from AEU. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible.
Academic Conduct
Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own
words – is a serious academic offense with heavy consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the
discussion of plagiarism and academic dishonesty here:
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ai/ForEveryone/Pages/NTUAcademicIntegrityPolicy.aspx.
Any student found to have committed plagiarism, academic fraud, or to have facilitated academic
dishonesty will immediately fail the course and be reported to Student Academic Integrity Officer.
Course Schedule
Week 1: National Day Public Holiday
Week 2 (17/8): Introduction: What is “Empire” and Why Should We Care?
Film: Avatar (James Cameron, 2009, USA, 162 mins)
PART 1: TROPES OF EMPIRE
Week 3 (24/8): Settler Colonialism in the American Western
Film: The Searchers (John Ford, 1956, USA, 119 mins) – View on your own before class.
Read:
Shohat and Stam, “The Imperial Imaginary,” 100-136. (book)
Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege,” pp.1-7. (E-copy)
Week 4 (31/8): The Camera as a Technology of Scientific Vision
Film: Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922, USA, 1hr19mins)
The Teddy Bears (Edwin S Porter, 1907, USA)
Read:
Fatimah Tobing Rony, “Taxidermy and Romantic Ethnography” pp.99-126. (book)
Kristen Whissel, “Uncle Tom, Goldilocks, and the Rough Riders: Early Cinema’s
Encounter with Empire,” pp. 384-404. (E-copy)
Week 5 (7/9): Travel Films to “Darkest Africa”
Film: King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933, USA, 100 mins)
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Read:
Rony, “King Kong and the Monster in Ethnographic Cinema,” pp.157-191. (book)
Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, “Tropes of Empire,” pp.137-166.
PART II: GENDER AND SEXUALITY
Week 6 (14/9): Sex, Sentiment, and Imperial Nostalgia
Film: Indochine (Regis Wagnier, 1992, France, 2h 40min)
View: Selection of French paintings (August Renoir, Henri Matisse, others TBD)
Read:
Rosaldo Renato, “Imperialist Nostalgia,” pp.107-122. (E-copy)
Panivong Norindr, “Filmic Memorials and Colonial Blues.” (E-copy)
Week 7 (21/9): Femininity and Subaltern Invisibility/Hypervisibility on the Screen
Film: La Noire De (Ousmane Sembene, 1966, Senegal, 1hr 20min)
Read:
Nicole Fleetwood, “Excess Flesh,” pp.104-145. (E-copy)
Donald Martin Carter, “The Anthropology of Invisibility,” pp.1-33. (E-copy)
Week 8 (28/9): RECESS WEEK
Week 9 (5/10): Sexuality in Postcolonial Spaces
Film: Fire (Deepa Mehta, 1997, India/USA, 1hr 48min)
Read:
Chatterjee, “Colonialism, Nationalism and the Colonized Woman,” pp.1-13 (e-copy)
Desai, “Homo on the Range: Queering Postcoloniality and Globalization in Deepa
Mehta’s Fire,” pp.159-192. (e-copy)
PART III: Postcolonial Cinemas
Week 10 (12/10): Films of the Revolution
Film: The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966, Italy/Algeria, 121mins)
Read:
Solanas and Gettino, “Third Cinema,” pp.2-22. (e-copy)
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The Wretched of the Earth (Select chapters, TBD) (book)
Shohat and Stam, “The Third Worldist Film,” pp.248-255 only (book)
Week 11 (19/10): Envisioning Partition
Film: Megha Dhaka Tara/The Cloud-Capped Star (Ritwik Gatak, 1960, India, 134mins)
Read:
Bhaskar Sarkar, “National Cinema’s Hermeneutic of Mourning,” pp.20-41. (e-copy)
Bhaskar Sarkar, “Ghatak, Melodrama and the Restitution of Experience,” pp.200-229. (ecopy)
Week 12 (26/10): Race and Colonial Aftermaths
Film: Sepet (Yasmin Ahmad, 2005, Malaysia, 1hr 44min)
Read:
Daniel Goh, “From Colonial Pluralism to Postcolonial Multiculturalism: Race, State
Formation and the Question of Cultural Diversity in Malaysia and Singapore,”
pp.1.21. (e-copy)
Geralding Heng and Janadas Devan, “State Fatherhood: The Politics of Nationalism,
Sexuality, and Race in Singapore,” pp.343-363. (e-copy)
PART IV: THE “END” OF EMPIRE?
Week 13 (2/11): Media, Empire, and the Neoliberal Connection
Film: Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (Robert Greenwald, 2006, USA, 1hr 16min)
Read:
Ann Stoler, “Degrees of Imperial Sovereignty,” pp.1-22. (e-copy)
Christopher Hitchens, “Imperialism,”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2002/12/imperialis
m.html
Carol Stabile and Deepa Kumar, “Unveiling Imperialism: Media, Gender, and the War in
Afghanistan,” pp.1-18. (e-copy)
Week 14 (9/11): Visual Warfare—US and the Middle East
Film: Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars (Robert Greenwald, 2013, USA, 63mins.)
View: Explore selection of media on drone warfare online. (In class)
Read:
Paul Virilio, “Desert Screen,” in Desert Screen: War at the Speed of Light, New York:
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the Athlon Press, 2002. pp.107-134. (e-copy)
Carsten Bagge Lausten, “The Camera as Weapon: on Abu Ghraib and Related Matters,”
pp.123-142. (e-copy)
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HL3004: World Cinema: Film and Empire
PERSONAL PARTICULARS
Name:
Major:
Year:
Have you previously taken a film/cinema/media course? (circle one): Yes/No
Have you previously taken a course in the humanities? (circle one): Yes/No
Would you require accommodation for a learning disability? (circle one): Yes/No
Preferred email address (this will be the email through which I will send you the invite to our
course blog, so please be sure to provide an email address that you check regularly):
What is your favorite film?:
By filling out this form I acknowledge that I have read and understood all that is needed to
fulfill the requirements of this course.