Middle Eastern Cinema and Politics Diana Gonzalez ... - Sciences Po

Syllabus
Middle Eastern Cinema and Politics
Diana Gonzalez-Duclert
Programme des séances (contenu et objectifs pédagogiques) :
Année universitaire 2012/2013
Collège universitaire
Semestre d’automne
Contemporary Middle Eastern cinema reflects the social, political and cultural challenges in the region, while
revealing the revolutionary spirit of its filmmakers and their filmic language. This course will define dominant
themes such as: territory, cultural identity, memory, modernism, religion, feminism, internal conflict and sociopolitical
violence, within both historical and present political contexts. Filmmakers will include: Chahine, Saab,
Kiarostami, Farhadi, Gitai, Maoz, Folman, Doueir, Khleifi, Güney, and Ceylan, dealing with the challenges of
Egypt, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, and Turkey. Basic film analysis terms and cultural theories will be covered
in order to study and articulate the form as well as content of these films. While addressing the larger question of
the relationship between aesthetics and politics, this course will encourage an analysis of film as a participant in
social and political change.
This course will be primarily a discussion class. The theoretic approach will be multi-disciplinary, incorporating
sociology, history, political science, film aesthetics and analysis, and reception studies, in order to enrich and
support the interpretation of the selected films.
Pour chacune des 12 séances : présentation du thème général, de la(les) thématique(s), textes de référence, lectures
préparatoires, exercices) :
*In addition to the below readings, « viewing notes » on the films viewed outside of class (approximately one
page) will be handed in each week and graded.
*Topics for both the oral presentation and final paper will be provided, but students will be also encouraged to
suggest other topics (to be decided on in advance).
SYLLABUS
CLASS 1: September 5
*Presentation of course organization
Introduction to Middle Eastern cinema, politics and film analysis
I. Presentation of films and thematic organization
II. Geography and basic political and social themes in Middle East studies
Readings:
Kamrava, Mehran. The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War. 2nd ed. Berkeley, Los Angeles,
London: University of California Press, 2011. (Introduction, pp. 1-6; Chapter 10, “The Question of Democracy,” pp. 345-
355).
*Access to films for the class will also be discussed…
CLASS 2: September 12 - Lecture
I. Reflections on national cinema, aesthetics and film interpretation
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II. Basic principles of film analysis: Mise-en scène, narrative, framing, lighting, camera movement and editing
(with film excerpts)
Readings:
SHAFIK Viola. Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity, Cairo, The American University in Cairo Press, 2000 (not
required reading, but pages will be provided for better understanding of the lecture)
Morris, Pam, ed. The Bakhtin Reader. London: Edward Arnold, 1994, (pg. 5-17, and pg. 20-23).
Bordwell, David and Kristen Thompson. Film Art: an Introduction, 5 th edition. New York: McGraw Hill Co., Inc., 1997 (pp.
169-183, 226-227, 236-263)
*To guide you, I will provide a glossary of film terms online to concentrate on for the Bordwell and Thompson reading, as
well as reading notes for the Morris text on Bakhtin.
CLASS 3: September 19
Power, Religion and Oppression 1: Fundamentalism and intellectual freedom
Destiny (El-Maseer) (Youssif Chahine, Egypt, 1997)
Readings:
Chahine, Youssef, Joseph Massad. “Art and Politics in the Cinema of Youssef Chahine,” in Journal of Palestine Studes,
Vol. 28, No. 2, Winter 1999, pp. 77-93. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2537936
Berman, Sheri. “Islamism, Revolution, and Civil Society” in Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jun., 2003), pp.
257-272 . Published by: American Political Science Association. Article Stable URL: https://acces-distant.sciencespo.fr:443/http/www.jstor.org/stable/3688899
*Short quiz on film vocabulary (from Bordwell and Thompson’s text and glossary)
CLASS 4: September 26
Power, Religion and Oppression 2: Women, sexuality and oppression
Dunia: Kiss Me not on the Eyes (Jocelyne Saab, Egypt/Lebanon, 2006)
Kadosh (Amos Gitai, Israel, 1999)
(No readings this week)
CLASS 5: October 3
Question of Territory, internal conflict and war: Lebanon
West Beirut (Ziad Doueiri , Lebanon, 1998)
Readings:
Denney, Julie and Martha Wenger, “Lebanon's Fifteen-Year War 1975-1990” in Middle East Report, No. 162, Lebanon's
War (Jan. - Feb., 1990), pp. 23-25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3013281.
Lina Khatib, Lebanese Cinema: Imagining the Civil War and Beyond, New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2008 (pages to be
announced).
CLASS 6: October 10
Question of Territory, war and memory: Lebanon and Israel
Lebanon (Samuel Maoz, Israel, 2009)
Waltzing with Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008)
Readings:
Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992 (pages to be announced and
provided online).
CLASS 7: October 17***
***ORAL PRESENTATIONS
CLASS 8: October 24
Territory, cultural identity and internal political conflict
*Continuation of last two oral presentations
*Communication of final paper topics (if choice is not one of the given topics)
Wedding in Galilée (Michel Khleifi, Palestine, 1987)
Reading:
Khleifi, Michel. “From Reality to Fiction – From Poverty to Expression, in Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema.
Ed., Hamid Dabashi. London and New York: Verso, 2006 (pp. 45-57).
Wednesday, October 31 – NO CLASS (Toussaint vacation)
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Class 9: November 7
The case of Turkey 1: Society, modernism and State
Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, 2009)
Readings:
1. Patton, Marcie J. “Turkey's Tug of War” in Middle East Report , No. 239, Dispatches from the War Zones: Iraq and
Afghanistan (Summer, 2006), pp. 42-47. Published by: Middle East Research and Information Project. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25164731
2. Interview with filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/06/nuri-bilge-ceylan-interviewtranscript
CLASS 10: November 14
The case of Turkey 2: State violence and minorities
Yol (Yilmaz Güney, Turkey, 1982)
*Possible invited guest: Hamit Bozarslan, Directeur d’études, EHESS (to be confirmed).
Readings:
Bozarslan, Hamit. “Chronologie,” in Histoire de la Turquie Contemporaine. Paris : Editions La Découverte, 2004, pp. 107-
112
Bozarslan, Hamit. “Kurds and the Turkish State,” in R. Kasaba (ed.), Cambridge History of Modern Turkey. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 333-356.
CLASS 11: November 21
Iranian Cinema 1: Poetics vs. Politics
Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, 1997)
Reading:
Dabashi, Hamid. “Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema,” Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 2007,
(“Introduction,” pp. 11-36).
CLASS 12: November 28***
Iranian Cinema 2: National cinema vs. globalization of aesthetics
The Separation (Asghar Farhadi, Iran, 2011)
Reading:
From online coursepack: Text and page numbers to be announced.
*** FINAL PAPER DUE
Filmography:
Destiny (El-Maseer) (Youssif Chahine, Egypt, 1997)
Dunia: Kiss Me not on the Eyes (Jocelyne Saab, Egypt/Lebanon, 2006)
Kadosh (Amos Gitai, Israel, 1999)
West Beirut (Ziad Doueiri, Lebanon, 1998)
Lebanon (Samuel Maoz, Israel, 2009)
Waltzing with Bashir (Ari Folman, Israel, 2008)
Wedding in Galilée (Michel Khleifi, Palestine, 1987)
Yol (Yilmaz Güney, Turkey, 1982)
Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, 2009)
Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, 1997)
The Separation (Asghar Farhadi, Iran, 2011)
*If they choose to do so, students may work also on films outside of the class filmography for their presentations
and papers, with approval from the professor. Recommendations for other films will also be provided according
to students’ interests.
Présentation des modalités d’évaluation :
20% - Participation in class discussions
20% - Film viewing notes (to be handed in each week)
20% - Oral presentation (to be done in groups of 3)
40% - Final research paper (10-12 pages)
+ One quiz on filmic language terms for extra credit (if noted above 16, 0/20)
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*All readings will be made available online (ENTG)
Références bibliographiques :
Eleven films will be viewed (outside of class time), filmography noted above.
*All readings will be provided online
Required readings will be selected from: Mehran Kamrava, The Modern Middle East: A Political History
Since the First World War, 2 nd ed.,Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Calif. Press, 2011; David
Bordwell and Kristen Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, 9 th ed., McGraw Hill Co., 2010; Maurice
Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Robert Stam, Subversive
Pleasures : Bakhtin, Cultural Criticism, and Film, Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press,
1989; Hamid Dabashi, Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema, Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers,
2007; Hamid Dabashi, Dreams of a Nation: on Palestinian Cinema, New York and London: Verso Books,
2006; Mikael Bakhtin, “Rabelais and his Time,” 1965, in The Bakhtin Reader, Pam Morris, ed., London:
Edward Arnold, 1994; Hamit Bozarslan. “Chronologie,” in Histoire de la Turquie Contemporaine. Paris :
Editions La Découverte, 2004; Hamit Bozarslan, “Kurds and the Turkish State,” in R. Kasaba (ed.),
Cambridge History of Modern Turkey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 333-356; Chahine,
Youssef, Joseph Massad. “Art and Politics in the Cinema of Youssef Chahine,” in Journal of Palestine
Studes, Vol. 28, No. 2, Winter 1999, pp. 77-93.
Berman, Sheri. “Islamism, Revolution, and Civil Society” in Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jun.,
2003), pp. 257-272 . Published by: American Political Science Association.
Other bibliographical references for course :
Mike Wayne: Political Film : The Dialectics of Third Cinema, London: Pluto Press, 2001; Ella Shohat, Israeli
Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation, revised ed., (1 st ed., 1989), New York and London:
I.B. Taurus & Co., 2010; Mikael Bakhtin, “Epic and Novel”, in The Dialogic Imagination : Four Essays by M.
M. Bakhtin, Michael Holquist (ed.), , Caryl Emerson and Michael Hoquist (trad.), Austin: University of Texas
Press, ; Siefried Kracauer, Theory of Film: Redemption of Physical Reality, Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1997; Hamid Dabashi: Close-up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present and Future, New York: Verso, 2001;
Lina Khatib, Lebanese Cinema: Imagining the Civil War and Beyond, New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2008;
Viola Shafik, Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity, revised ed.,
Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2007
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27, rue Saint-Guillaume 75007 Paris France T/ +33 (0)1 45 49 50 51 - F/ +33 (0)1 42 22 39 64 www.sciences-po.fr