UNIVERSITY OF LODZ
FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL AND POLITICAL STUDIES
Course title
Political Cinema in the United States
Code in USOS
1300-A211VA
Language
English
Semester
Winter
Number of hours
30
ECTS
4
Course type
Special subject seminar
Level
Master
Instructor’s name
Elżbieta H. Oleksy
Instructor’s e-mail eloleksy@uni.lodz.pl
Course objectives
The course aims at exploring the political and social issues that inform
the representation of minorities and the wide diversity of people’s lived
experiences in the United States. With a historical perspective on the
development of film, the seminar considers the reception of images
from both mainstream and alternative sources.
The course will introduce such theories as:
 Diversity politics in the United States
 Politics and antiracism
 Identity politics
 Intersectionality
The course also aims at discussing critical views on identity politics in
the United States in relation to minorities selected across different axes
of social stratification; e.g.:
 race,
 ethnicity,
 age,
 ability/disability,
 sexuality, etc.
The course concludes with the evaluation of practices and strategies of
representing diversity in US cinema.
Course description 1. Studying political films, categories of political films
(contents)
2. Diversity politics in the US: African Americans: The Long Walk
Home
3. Diversity politics in the US: Chinese Americans: The Joy Luck Club
4. Politics and antiracism: Crash
5. Identity politics and intersectionality: The Passion Fish
6. Identity politics and intersectionality; overview of personal
narratives: The Sweet Hereafter
7. Identity politics and intersectionality: A Single Man
Textbooks
African American Policy Forum, Intersectionality Primer,
URL=http://www.scribd.com/doc/59819079/IntersectionalityPrimer
Bates, P., “The Long Walk Home,” Cineaste 18:3, 1991, 51-53.
Browning, R., “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.”
Christensen T. & P.J. Haas, “Setting the Scene. A Theory of Film and
Politics,” Projecting politics. Political messages in American
films, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2005, 5-17.
Dillon, S., “Lyricism and Accident in The Sweet Hereafter,”
Literature/Film Quarterly 31:3, 2003, 227-230.
Johnston, T., “Sayles Talk – John Sayles in interview, on his most
recent film Passion Fish and his career as director, writer, and
actor,” Sight and Sound 3:9, 1993, 26-29.
Kempf, A., “On the souls of white folks,” Crash politics and
antiracism, ed. P.S.S. Howard& G.J. Sefa Dei, New York: Peter
Lang, 2008, 91-101.
Oleksy, E. H., “Intersectionality at the cross-roads,” Women’s Studies
International Forum 34, 2011, 263-270.
Oleksy, E. H., “Intricate interdependencies and female buddy movies,”
Walking on a trail of words. Essays in honor of Agnieszka Salska,
ed. J. Maszewska & Z. Maszewski, Łódź: Łódź Univ. Press, 2007,
345-56.
Summerfield, E. & Lee, S. Seeing the big picture: A cinematic
approach to understanding cultures in America, Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2006, ix-xvii; 27-89.
Taubin, A., “A Single Man,” Film Comment 45:6, 2009, 68-69.
Tibbetts, J., “A delicate balance: An interview with Wayne Wang about
Joy Luck Club,” Literature Film Quarterly 22:1, 1994, 2-6.
Walters, B., “The Trouble with Perfume,” Film Quarterly 63:4, 2010,
14-17.
Assessment criteria  developing students’ critical and creative skills in weekly journal
assignments related to class discussions and readings throughout
the semester (20%)
 class participation (20%)
AND
 mid-term test (30%)
 final test (30%)
OR
 personal narrative (60%)