Cinema Curriculum: Difference between revisions
Created page with "The key to understanding the 20th century and the cultural power of the American empire lies in interpreting film, and the infrastructure behind it. Because the art of cinema naturally lends itself to sensuality, this curriculum is intended for secondary students and undergraduates at a level of maturity where they will not be disturbed by depictions of violence or infatuated with depictions of sexuality. Remember: moving pictures are an illusion of life. Just because..." |
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Remember: moving pictures are an illusion of life. Just because it's animated does not mean it has a living spirit. God requires that we do not worship images. We must not love them; we must taste test them instead. Marvelously, imagination mingles with reality. Our enjoyment should be in appreciating how films help us bring reality into focus more clearly. If they fail in that, there is nothing left to do but disparage them. |
Remember: moving pictures are an illusion of life. Just because it's animated does not mean it has a living spirit. God requires that we do not worship images. We must not love them; we must taste test them instead. Marvelously, imagination mingles with reality. Our enjoyment should be in appreciating how films help us bring reality into focus more clearly. If they fail in that, there is nothing left to do but disparage them. |
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As such we need to hone our critical faculties; we need to deepen our awareness of historical context and our intertextual hermeneutics to begin to understand what the images we're seeing might ultimately mean and how they are trying to manipulate us emotionally. What makes for a good, meaningful life? Who is beautiful and who is ugly? What is heroic and what is dishonorable? Is providence at work? |
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As such we need to hone our critical faculties. |
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Sadly, the vast majority of people today have formed their basic assumptions and moral values and self-conception on what they have seen in film and television. Many of these frames of mind are very bad and should be torn apart in the fear of God. |
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Because it is so psychological, filmmaking and film criticism is ultimately an act of spiritual warfare. A priestly task. We must test all these symbols and stories we use to make sense of who we are in the universe and how we relate to one another. |
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Revision as of 00:07, 26 September 2025
The key to understanding the 20th century and the cultural power of the American empire lies in interpreting film, and the infrastructure behind it.
Because the art of cinema naturally lends itself to sensuality, this curriculum is intended for secondary students and undergraduates at a level of maturity where they will not be disturbed by depictions of violence or infatuated with depictions of sexuality.
Remember: moving pictures are an illusion of life. Just because it's animated does not mean it has a living spirit. God requires that we do not worship images. We must not love them; we must taste test them instead. Marvelously, imagination mingles with reality. Our enjoyment should be in appreciating how films help us bring reality into focus more clearly. If they fail in that, there is nothing left to do but disparage them.
As such we need to hone our critical faculties; we need to deepen our awareness of historical context and our intertextual hermeneutics to begin to understand what the images we're seeing might ultimately mean and how they are trying to manipulate us emotionally. What makes for a good, meaningful life? Who is beautiful and who is ugly? What is heroic and what is dishonorable? Is providence at work?
Sadly, the vast majority of people today have formed their basic assumptions and moral values and self-conception on what they have seen in film and television. Many of these frames of mind are very bad and should be torn apart in the fear of God.
Because it is so psychological, filmmaking and film criticism is ultimately an act of spiritual warfare. A priestly task. We must test all these symbols and stories we use to make sense of who we are in the universe and how we relate to one another.
With that in mind, welcome to a survey of earth's Primitive Cinematic Neanderthrashings.
Invention & Early Days
Melies, Lumiere, Edison
Early 20th
D.W. Griffith
Foreign Film Industries
German Expressionism
French Impressionism
Soviet Propaganda & Film Theory
Soviet Montage
Jazz Age & Synchronous Sound
Buster Keaton
Jazz Singer
Disney, Monsters, and Propaganda
American World War II Propaganda
National Socialist Propaganda
TechniColor, Wizard of Oz
Snow White
Genre Studies:
Swashbucklers
Westerns
Epics
Noir
Drama
Early Experimental
Musical & Dance
Japanese Cinema
jidaigeki - period drama
gendaigeki - contemporary drama
1937 - Humanity and Paper Balloons
Sadao Yamanaka
Gosho
Shimazu
Naruse
Ozu vs. Mizoguchi - slow vs. fast
Kurosawa
Kaiju
GOJIRA!
The Arthouse
Italian Neorealism
Society of the Spectacle
Widescreen
Epic Adventure, Sword & Sandal Films
50s Masculinity
Sci Fi and Cold War Paranoia
50s Musicals
Hitchcock & Auteur Theory
Ingmar Bergman
French New Wave
Cahiers du Cinema
Godard
La Jetee
Tati
Auteur Theory
Documentary & Cinéma vérité
Hollywood Decay - 60s and 70s
lost theatre chains and also had to compete with television; crazy riots and cultural revolution; ticket sales falling;
Exploitation films
Harryhausen
James Bond
Spaghetti Westerns
New Hollywood Cinema
Spielberg
Coppola
Scorsese
George Lucas
Mike Nichols & The Graduate