GERM/HMCS394-01: Topics

A. Kiarina Kordela

M-W-F 3:30-4:30; M-W HUM 401, F HUM 215

Office Hours: M-W-F 2:15-3:15,

and by appointment, HUM 208

Tel: 696-6524

Biopolitics and Biocinema:

European (Film) Theory

“Biopolitics”—a term introduced by Michel Foucault in the 1970s—means literally “life politics,” and designates the permeation of all aspects of life by politics in the countries of advanced or postmodern capitalism, in which the majority of labor produces no longer industrial products but information, transportation, services (from banks to massage), education, and entertainment (hence the emergence of new terms, such as biopolitical production and postindustrial or informatized capitalism). This historical shift, in which the dominant mode of production becomes what in the past was considered to pertain to reproduction, entails a further major shift regarding the means of production. These involve no longer raw materials and industrial machines but, in some spheres of biopolitical production, information technology, and, crucially, in all spheres, language (in the broadest sense of the word, ranging from the signifier and the image to body language, behaviors, gestures, attitudes, styles, etc.). The burgeoning literature on biopolitics is represented, beyond Foucault, by major thinkers, such as Giorgio Agamben, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, and Paolo Virno. Parallel to focusing on their work, this course will be tracing the development of European film theory since the early twentieth century, examining its transformations due to biopolitics, as well as its own impact on biopolitical theories.

There will be a film screening every Thursday, 7:00pm

Our readings will include:

Required Texts:

Agamben: Homo Sacer; J. D. Andrew: The Major Film Theories; Foucault: Madness and Civilization and History of Sexuality Vol. 1; Barry Hindess: Discourses of Power: From Hobbes to Foucault; Virno: A Grammar of the Multitude; Fredric Jameson: Signatures of the Visible; Patrick Fuery: New Developments in Film Theory

Recommended Texts:

Hardt and Negri: Empire and Multitude (We shall read excerpts, and the books will be available on reserve.)

We shall also read articles and excerpts from the work of: Cesare Casarino, Gilles Deleuze, Thomas Elsaesser Foucault’s Society Must Be Defended, Yuriko Furuhata, Siegfried Kracauer, P. M. Lee, Robert Sinnerbrink, and possibly others.

No pre-knowledge required. Taught in English. All assigned readings in English.

Course Goals, Requirements,

And Suggestions How to Meet Them

A. GOALS

Beyond introducing students to the methodology and epistemology of philosophical and critical thought, including the analysis of culture and ideology, this course intends to cultivate the following skills:

· Critical examination of the presuppositions/preconditions of the discourse/text (epistemology)

· Critical examination of the strategies and style of the discourse/text (methodology and rhetoric)

· Analytic ability (to identify the same concept or logical structure in different texts/discourses) and synthetic ability (to combine different concepts and structures towards a further argument)

· Overcome intimidation by so-called difficult texts and theories

· Critical reading of texts and ability to reconstruct their arguments in class

· Critical and productive dialogue on the texts

· Comprehension and active use of different theoretical ‘languages.’

· Competent academic writing.

Basic Step towards improving intellectual competence and critical ability: When you read, two things are imperative so that you gain something out of your reading: 1. Check unknown words in a dictionary, such as Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 2. Check the argument of the text in terms of its logical consistency and coherence. If you do not follow the line of the argument—how, for example, the author proceeds from one sentence to another, linking two subjects that seem to you irrelevant—then, there are two possibilities. Either the argument is more sophisticated than you and, hence, you need to study, discuss, and analyze it in order to understand it, or the author is ‘cheating,’ and hence you should not buy the argument. Remember: Not everything printed is of true value but, on the other hand, not everything you do not understand is necessarily nonsense. You will have learned something by the end of the semester if you are able to tell which of the two is the case.

Rule of Thumb: You know that you have understood a text when you can ‘translate’ its concepts, logic, thesis and/or arguments into the terms of everyday life.

B. REQUIREMENTS

Reading Assignments: In this course we do not read in order to memorize but to learn how to think critically about the texts we are reading. This does not mean that there are no concepts that we have to learn ‘by heart,’ so to speak, but that it is not worth learning them unless we really understand what they mean, how they have become possible, and perhaps necessary, what other concepts they cause as their effect, and how and with what consequences we can use them actively in our language.

Daily class writing requirements:

At the end of each class (or via email) I will give you a list of questions regarding the reading assigned for the next class. Prepare responses to these questions, whether in written text form or by making notes so that you are able to present a response orally in class without needing time to figure out then what you mean to say. After a certain point in the semester, in addition to the responses, you will also prepare the list of questions yourselves.

Midterm Paper: See Feb, 26, in the "Daily Syllabus." This paper, along with my comments, will constitute the basis of your final paper.

Final Paper: See Apr. 20, in "Daily Syllabus." I recommend that you work on the revision of the mid-term towards the composition of a final paper throughout the semester, instead of writing the might before the day it is due.

Attendance and Participation in Class Discussion (More than three absences can result in a lower grade).Your participation in critical and productive dialogue reflects and refines not only your ability to read and view critically texts but also your ability to be an active listener (listen and respond also to other students, ask them questions, etc.). Ask about words, concepts or arguments that are mentioned by others and you do not understand. Do so even if you have the impression that you are the only one who does not understand only because nobody else asks questions. Most likely this is a wrong impression, and everybody else is in the same situation to one extent or other. Feel free to interrupt and comment or ask questions at any time while I lecture.

In Case of Absence: If you miss a class, contact another student from this seminar to find out what we discussed on the day you missed and what I said about the reading assigned for the next time. When you show up on the next class day, you should have read the texts assigned for both, the day you missed and the day you are present, and you should turn in writing the responses to the questions pertaining to the readings for the class you missed. The course forms a thematic whole. Omission of some of the assigned texts and class discussions prevents you from following this thematic whole.

NOTE: Always check the reading assignments of more than the next class, so that you can budget your time by reading ahead texts if you happen to have days off or generally free time. Also check in advance whether the assigned reading is on electronic reserve and whether you can access it (if not, all material is also on traditional reserve), and whether the material is only on traditional reserve in the department, in which case you will need to make copies.

C. OTHER SUGGESTIONS/COMMENTS

Office Hours: If in intellectual trouble or simply in need of ‘boosting transference,’ make use of my office hours (to make sure that you will find me, let me know in advance that you intend to visit me during my office hours. (If you do not find me in my office during these hours, most likely I am outside one of the two entrances to the Humanities building). We can also arrange a meeting at another hour, if these hours are not convenient for you. When you meet me, we may discuss also other aspects of the course and your relation to it. For instance, you may indicate to me your particular interests, or comment on the quality of our performances, and we can exchange suggestions for further improvement on both sides.

Communal Learning and Mutual Evaluation and Criticism: In this course we will constantly judge, evaluate, and learn from each other’s work. Everything we say or write during this course is not private property but public, available for any one to use productively. My comments on your writing will always be critical, trying to improve it even if it is already on a very competent level. There is no limit to good writing: we can always write better, and the better we write the more aware we are of how difficult it is. Similarly, there is no limit to good teaching. I encourage you to offer, and would honestly appreciate, any kind of criticism, including my approach to the texts, your writing, and our interaction in class. One of our further tasks in this course is to learn how to offer constructive and non-offensive feedback.

ALWAYS READ THE SYLLABUS CAREFULLY FOR ASSIGNED READINGS OR OTHER HOMEWORK. I WILL MAKE SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THEM ONLY IN ORDER TO MAKE CHANGES. OTHERWISE THE ASSIGNMENTS AS SPECIFIED ON THE SYLLABUS ARE TAKEN FOR GRANTED.

D. EVALUATION OF YOUR WORK

Your final grade is constituted out of four components:

Daily responses to list of questions (35%)
Mid-term paper (20%)
Final paper (35%)
Intelligent contribution to class discussion (10%)
Class and film screening attendance (You are not going to get a better grade just because you attend class or a film screening; rather, you get a worse grade for not attending. Up to three absences will not effect your grade, but beyond this the negative impact increases exponentially.)

Detailed Daily Syllabus

Part I: From Formalism/Realism to Biopolitics

M, Jan. 22: Introduction

W, Jan. 24: The Major Film Theories: “Hugo Munsterberg,” 11-26; “Rudolf Arnheim,” 27-41; part of “Béla Balázs and the Tradition of Formalism,” 76-88.

R, Jan. 25: Film screening: Michelangelo Antonioni: Blow Up (1966).

F, Jan. 26: The Major Film Theories: “Béla Balázs and the Tradition of Formalism,” 88-101; “Realist Film Theory,” 103-105; “Siegfried Kracauer,” 106-133.

M, Jan. 29: Madness and Civilization: “The Great Confinement,” 38-64; “The Great Fear,” 199-220.

W, Jan. 31: Madness and Civilization: “The New Division,” 221-240; “The Birth of the Asylum,” 241-278.

R, Feb. 1: Film screening: Robert Wiene: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919).

F, Feb. 2: Kracauer: From Caligari to Hitler: “Caligari,” 61-76 (on reserve); Fantasy and the Cinema: Thomas Elsaesser: “Social Mobility and the Fantastic: German Silent Cinema,” 23-38 (on reserve).

M, Feb. 5: Discourses of Power: “Introduction: Two Conceptions of Power,” 1-21; “’that Mortal God’: Hobbes on Political Power and Morality,” 23-45.

W, Feb. 7: Discourses of Power: “’the supreme exercise of power’: Lukes and Critical Theory,” 68-95; and optional: “’a right of making Laws’: Locke on political power and Morality,” 47-65.

R, Feb. 8: Film screening: Brian de Palma: Blow Out (1981).

F, Feb. 9: Discourses of Power: “discipline and cherish: Foucault on Power, Domination and Government,” 96-136.

M, Feb. 12: The History of Sexuality: “We ‘Other Victorians,’” 1-13; “The Repressive Hypothesis,” 17-49.

W, Feb. 14: The History of Sexuality: “Scientia Sexualis,” 53-73; “The Deployment of Sexuality”: “Method,” 92-102; part of “Right of Death and Power over Life,” 135-145.

R, Feb. 15: Film screening: Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather (1972).

F, Feb. 16: The History of Sexuality: “Right of Death and Power over Life,” 145-159; Foucault: Society Must Be Defended, chapter 11, 239-263 (on reserve).

M, Feb. 19: Hardt and Negri: Empire: “Biopolitical Production,” 22-30; Postmodernization, or the Informatization of Production,” 280-294 (on reserve); Multitude: “Biopower and Security,” 18-25; “From Biopower to Biopolitical Production,” 93-95; “The Becoming Common of Labor,” 103-115; and “Life on the Market,” 179-188 (on reserve).

W, Feb, 21: A Grammar of the Multitude: “Introduction,” 21-26; part of “Forms of Dread and Refuge,” 35-45; “Labor, Action, Intellect,” 47-71.

R, Feb. 22: Orson Welles: Citizen Kane (1941) [or The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) or Touch of Evil (1958)].

F, Feb. 23: Marx: Grundrisse: “Capital and labour,” 266-275 (on reserve); A Grammar of the Multitude: “Multitude as Subjectivity,” 73-93; Zizek: The Sublime Object of Ideology: “Kafka, Critic of Althusser,” 43-47 (on reserve); Deleuze: Cinema 1: The Movement-Image: “The first level: frame, set or closed system,” 12-18 (on reserve).

M, Feb. 26: Mid-term paper due (2-4 double-spaced pages): Drawing on our readings, respond to Kracauer’s and Elsaesser’s positions on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (and, optionally, generally on cinema).

W, Feb. 28: On the papers.

Part II: Retracing the Path Toward the Gaze

R, Mar. 1: Sergei Eisenstein: The Battleship Potemkin (1925).

F, Mar. 2: Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life: part of “The Logic of Sovereignty,” 13-48; “Homo Sacer,” 71-74.

M, Mar. 5: Homo Sacer: parts of “The Camp as Biopolitical Paradigm of the Modern,” 117-153.

W, Mar. 7: Homo Sacer: “The Camp as the ‘Nomos’ of the Modern,” 166-188.

R, Mar. 8: Film screening: Jean-Jacques Beineix: Diva (1982).

F, Mar. 9: The Major Film Theories: “Sergei Eisenstein,” 42-75. “

March 10 – 18: Spring Break

M, Mar. 19: André Bazin,” 134-178.

W, Mar. 21: The Major Film Theories: “Contemporary French Film Theory,” 179-184; “Jean Mitry,” 185-211.

R, Mar. 22: Film Screening: Sidney Lumet: Dog Day Afternoon (1975).

F, Mar. 23: The Major Film Theories: “Christian Metz and the Semiology of the Cinema,” 212-241.

M, Mar. 26: “The Challenge of Phenomenology: Amédée Ayfre and Henri Agel,” 242-253; Lacan: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis: “The Line and Light”: “Questions and Answers,” 103-104 (on reserve); [screening scenes from Paul Verhoeven: Total Recall (1990)].

W, Mar. 28: Copjec: Read My Desire: “The Orthopsychic Subject: Film Theory and the Reception of Lacan,” 15-38 (on reserve).

Part III: Biopolitics, History, and Time

R, Mar. 29: Film screening: Stanley Kubrick: The Shining (1980).

F, Mar. 30: Signatures of the Visible: “Reification And Utopia In Mass Culture,” 9-34.

M, Apr. 2: Signatures of the Visible: “Class and Allegory in Contemporary Mass Culture: Dog Day Afternoon as a Political Film,” 35-54.

W, Apr. 4: Signatures of the Visible: “Diva and French Socialism,” 55-62.

R, Apr. 5: Film screening: Alfred Hitchcock: The 39 Steps (1935).

F, Apr. 6: No Class

M, Apr. 9: Signatures of the Visible: “Historicism in The Shining,” 82-98.

W, Apr. 11: Signatures of the Visible: “Allegorizing Hitchcock,” 99-127.

R, Apr. 12: Possible Film screening: TBA

F, Apr. 13: Signatures of the Visible: part of “The Existence of Italy,” 155-191.

M, Apr. 16: Signatures of the Visible: The Existence of Italy,” 191-229.

W, Apr. 18: Deleuze: Cinema 1: The Movement-Image: “The crisis of the action- image,” 197-215 (on reserve); Cinema 2: parts from “The crystals of time,” 68-83.

F, Apr. 20: Casarino: “The Problem of an Ontological History of Time; or, On the Method of Gilles Deleuze’s Study of the Cinema” (on reserve). Final Paper (i.e., revision of mid-term paper) due (7-10 double-spaced pages). Expand the argument of your mid-term paper so that you formulate an argument about biopolitics in general. (An ability to correlate and synthesize or juxtapose arguments from various texts is a plus.)

M, Apr. 23: TBA

W, Apr. 25: Kordela: “Capital: At Least It Kills Time,” in Rethinking Marxism, 18:4 (October 2006): 539-563.

F, Apr. 27: TBA; Student Evaluations

M, Apr. 30: [possibly dinner with Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 (1963)]