2023-24 Academic Catalog

How do films reflect and impact the cultures, societies, and physical environments within which they circulate? How do the complexities of German history offer a special case within film history? In this course, we examine German film history through the lens of environmental critique, from the stylized landscapes of 1920s expressionism to the filmic environments of multicultural contemporary Germany. Topics include propaganda, postwar rubble, and antifascist student-inspired rebel cinema. Alongside each film, we will discuss texts and theories that offer frameworks for understanding the complex interplay of ideas about film art, environmental understanding, and national identity. Taught in English.