CTCS 403 investigates traditions, achievements, and trends of film and media in a particular country or region. It focuses on issues of national and cultural identity, genre, aesthetics, industry, spectatorship, or on particular themes. This fall, we will track cinematic and other media trends in contemporary Europe and its peripheries, with an emphasis on globalization, migration and identities.
Since 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, globalization has accelerated around the world. Europe – as a geopolitical entity as well as an idea – has been affected with particular intensity. The European
Union has expanded its borders to incorporate some of the former Soviet satellite countries. At the same time, the end of the Cold War reignited national, ethnic, religious and regional affiliation, most violently in the course of the post-
Yugoslav wars. These changes have set in motion large-scale migrations and have thrown Europe into a state of intense transformation.
The films and other media texts we will discuss this fall help us analyze this
European identity crisis. The issues we will discuss, however, are not specific to
Europe: the changing world order is thoroughly interwoven with globally converging transnational media forms and technologies. In a similar vein, mass migration, anxieties about borders, the resurgence of nationalism, the prominence of memory and nostalgia, and the war on terror are globally linked phenomena.
Weekly readings are available on Blackboard under “Course Documents”. You can download and print out each article at your convenience. Please bring the readings to class when they are due for discussion.

I will ask you to turn in 6 reviews. Each review will discuss two films or television shows together. This means that you will have to identify some points of comparison between the two texts. These points can be thematic, industrial, aesthetic or theoretical. In the review, you can also refer to other films or media texts; but the bulk of the review should deal with the two texts in focus. The review should include the following: (1) a brief introduction of the film plots and socio-economic conditions of production, distribution and exhibition (e.g. it might be relevant to mention whether they are were produced in cooperation, whether they have been successful in the festival circuit or on (trans)national television networks, etc.); (2) an analysis that compares the two films along the axis of your choice. The bulk of the review should be devoted to the analysis. In this part, draw on class discussions and cite relevant readings. The review should also contain a brief evaluation (3), which explains why you would (not) recommend the film to specific audiences. Each review should be about 500 words= 2 double-spaced pages in 12-point font, 1-inch margins, Times New
Roman. Please bring hard copies of these reviews to class on their due date.
Active contribution to in-class work:
This is a collaborative class, where much of the learning material will come from what we produce together. You will need to be present, prepared, and engaged in order to benefit the most from the course. In-class work will count towards your participation grade.
Since this is an advanced and elective course, I would like you to take increasing ownership for the success of the class and for your own learning as we proceed through the semester. To conclude this process, I will ask you to teach the last two sessions of the course in groups of three or four. Each group will select a topic central to the theme of post-Wall European media, and draw upon their preparation to have the rest of the class critically and analytically process new information. These last sessions will be planned and coordinated entirely by student leaders. Groups will need to provide us with visual material using the media of their choice, and readings (one or two articles) electronically, or in hard copy, one week before their scheduled teaching session. They will also need to post questions and ideas on Blackboard at least three days before the date of their teaching session.

Week1
8/27
Wk 2
9/3
While the methods of facilitating discussion and other class activities are up to you, bear in mind that this is not a presentation. The emphasis is on engaging and teaching your classmates. By Monday, December 8, I will ask you to turn in your individual assessment of your contribution to these teaching sessions, including a list of sources consulted, your notes or other preparations for the teaching session, or collectively created media texts. This material, along with your performance during the teaching sessions, will provide the basis of your grade percentage for this portion of your course work. Do start thinking about possible topics and networking with potential collaborators early on. A list of suggestions is included at the end of the syllabus. I will meet with each group to discuss plans during the week before the teaching sessions.
1. Six film reviews 6x8=48 points
2. Effective participation in class discussion: 26 points
3. Teaching project: 26 points
TOTAL: 100 points
A
B
C
D
E
100-86
85-70
69-50
49-30
Under 30
Introductions.
What/Where/Who is Europe?
National,
Transnational and
Post-National
European Media
Elsaesser, Thomas, “Double Occupancy: Space, Place and Identity in European Cinema of the 1990s” Third
Text 83, vol. 20, issue 6, Nov. 2006, 647-658.
Zentropa (Lars von Trier, 1991,
112 mins.)
Lamerica (Gianni
Amelio, 1994,
116 mins)

Wk 3
9/10
Wk 4
9/17
Wk 5
9/24
Wk 6
10/1
Wk 7
10/8
Wk 8
10/15
Wk 9
10/22
Old and New
Europe
(N)ostalgia and
Memory
First Review due, of
Lamerica and
Zentropa
War, History and
Memory
Galt, Rosalind, The New European Cinema, pp. 175-197.
Luisa Rivi, “Introduction: For an Imperfect Europe” pp. 1-8 in her European Cinema After 1989.
Morley, David and Kevin Robins, Spaces of Identity.
Chapter 1: “Globalisation as Identity Crisis.” 10-42.
Rivi, European Cinema pp. 115-122.
Bach, Jonathan. “The Taste Remains: Consumption,
(N)ostalgia, and the Production of East Germany.”
Public Culture 14.3 (2002)
Loshitzky, Yosefa. “Constructing and Deconstructing the Wall.” CLIO 26:3, 1997: 275-296
Articles on No Man’s Land and other post-Yugoslavwar films: http://www.kinoeye.org/01/02/marritz02.php
http://www.kinoeye.org/01/02/horton02.php
http://www.kinoeye.org/02/04/becker04.php
.
Bjelic, Dusan. “Global Aesthetics and the Serbian
Cinema of the 1990s.” in Imre, ed. East European
Fortress Europe
Second review due, of Good Bye Lenin and No Man’s Land
Cinemas: 103-120.
Gibson, Sarah. “’The Hotel Business is About
Strangers: Border Politics and Hospitable Spaces in
Stephen Frears’s Dirty Pretty Things.” Third Text 20:6,
Nov. 2006: 693-702.
Loshitzky, Yosefa, “Journeys of Hope to Fortress
Europe.” Third Text 20:6, Nov. 2006, 745-754.
Postcolonial Europe Rivi, European Cinema After 1989: pp. 111-114.
Christopher Sharrett, “Michael Haneke and the
Discontents of European Culture”
Hybridity and
Mobility
Third Review, of
Dirty Pretty Things and Caché
[Access article in HTML] [Access article in PDF]
Stan Jones, “Turkish-German Cinema Today” in
Rings and Morgan-Tamosunas, eds. European Cinema:
Inside-Out: 75-91.
Verstraete, Ginette, “Mobilities”
Immigrant Identities Parvarti Nair, "In Modernity's Wake: Transculturality,
Deterritorialization and the Question of Community
Good Bye Lenin
(Wolfgang
Becker, 2003, 121 mins)
No Man’s Land
(Danis Tanovic,
2001, 98 mins)
Dirty Pretty
Things (Stephen
Frears, 2002, 97 mins)
Caché (Michael
Haneke, 2005,
117 mins.)
In July (Fatih
Akin, 2000, 99 mins)
Flowers of
Another World
(Iciar Bollain,
1999, 108 mins.)
Ballykissangel
(1996-2001,

Wk 10
10/29
Wk 11
11/5
Wk 12
11/12
Television in
Europe: Public
Service Broadcasting
Fourth Review, of IN
July and Flowers of
Another World, due
Popular
Transnational
Television in Europe
Europe and
Hollywood
Fifth Review, on television in Iciar Bollain's Flores de Otro Mundo (Flowers from
Another World)" Postscript 21.2 (Winter/Spring 2002)
Sassen, Saskia, “Europe’s Migrations: The Numbers and the Passions are Not New” Third Text 20.6 (Nov
2006): 635-645.
Collins, Richard. “Ises and Oughts: Public Service
Broadcasting in Europe.” Robert C Allen and Annette
Hill, Eds. The Television Studies Reader. London:
Routledge, 2004.
Mark Wheeler, “Supranational Regulation: Television and the European Union.” European Journal of
Communication (2004), Vol. 19:3: 349-369.
Dogar, “For Decades, Americans Sold TV
Programs…” Newsweek June 7, 1999.
Chalaby, “Transnational Television in Europe”
Van der Rijt et al, “Young People and Music
Television in the Netherlands” European Journal of
Communication 15.1 (2000): 79-91.
Elsaesser, Thomas. European Cinema: Face to Face with
Hollywood. “European Cinema as World Cinema: A
New Beginning?” 485-512.
Imre, “Play in the Ghetto: Global Entertainment and the European ‘Roma Problem’” Third Text 83 (20.6),
Nov. 2006, 659-671.
Lawson, Mark, “Why Baftas not make benefit glorious UK film?” The Guardian January 17, 2007.
Groups assign reading
Wk 13
11/19
Wk 14
11/26
Europe and
Hollywood
Groups teach class
Sixth Review due
Wk 15
12/3 Groups teach class
12/8 Group and Self-
Evaluations due
Groups assign reading creator: Kieran
Prendiville, BBC
Northern
Ireland, BBC,
Ballykea, World
Productions).
National Musical
Idols, reality shows,
Eurovision
Da Ali G Show
The District
(2004. d. Áron
Gauder)
Borat (Larry
Charles, 2006, 84 mins.)
Da Ali G Show

Cinema
Petrie, Duncan, ed. Screening Europe: Image and Identity in Contemporary European
Cinema. 1992.
Elsaesser, Thomas. European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood. Amsterdam UP,
2005.
Pavle, Levi, Aesthetics and Ideology in the Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Cinema.
Stanford UP, 2007.
Iordanova,, Dina. Cinema of Flames: Balkan Film, Culture and the Media. London: BFI
Publishing, 2001.
Iordanova, Dina. Cinema of the Other Europe. 2003
Imre, Aniko, ed. East European Cinemas. London: Routledge, 2005.
Rivi, Luisa, ed. “Quo Vadis European Cinema?” Special issue of Spectator, 2004.
Mazierska, Eva and Laura Rascaroli, From Moscow to Madrid: Postmodern Cities,
European Cinema. 2002
Mazierska and Rascaroli, Crossing New Europe: Postmodern Travel and the European
Road Movie. 2006.
Television
Eli, Noam. Television in Europe. Oxford UP, 1992. [e-book]
Richardson, Kay and Ulrike Meinhof. Worlds in Common? Television Discourse in a
Changing Europe. Routledge, 1999.
Sepstrup, Preben. Transnationalization of Television in Western Europe. London,
1990.
Kaid, Lunda Lee (ed) 1999. Television and Politics in Evolving European
Democracies. Nova Science Publishers.
Media, General
Sparks, Colin. 1998. Communism, Capitalism and the Mass Media. London: Sage.
Casmir, Fred L (ed), 1995, Communication in Eastern Europe: the role of history,
culture and media in contemporary conflicts. London: Erlbaum.
O’Neil, Patrick H. 1997. Post-Communism and the Media in Eastern Europe. Frank
Cass.
Sparks, Colin and Anna Reading, 1997. Communism, Capitalism and the Media in
Eastern Europe. L: Sage.
Splichal, Slavko. 1994. Media Beyond Socialism: Theory and Practie in East-Central
Europe. Westview Press.
Giorgi, Liana, ed. 1995. The Post-Socialist Media: What Power the West? Aldershot:
Avebury.
Lengel, Laura. Ed. 2000. Culture and Technology in the New Europe: Civic Discourse in Transformation in Post-communist Nations.
Identity

Neumann, Iver B. 1998. Uses of the Other. The East in European Identity Formation.
U of Minnesota P.
Berezin and Schain, eds. Europe Without Borders: Remapping Territory, Citizenship,
and Identity in a Transnational Age. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2003.
Children’s Media
Cities and regions, regional media
Tourism
Avant-garde and Animation:
Documentary and fiction
Genre Films
The European auteur
Art vs popular cinema
Food and Consumption
Consumerism
Music industry
European peripheries
Postcolonial Films
Media and sports
History and Heritage Movies
National cinemas
Game films
Media policy
Media (and) citizenship
The EU and technological surveillance
Gender, sexuality, ethnicity and the media