Kurzus nemzetközi vendég- és részidős hallgatóknak

Kar

Bölcsészettudományi Kar

Szervezet

BTK Történeti Intézet

Kód

BA-ERA-IHS-S-10

Cím

Film and History: eyewitnessing

Tervezett félév

Tavaszi

ECTS

6

Nyelv

Oktatás célja

Aim of the course: How can historians utilise films as historical sources? Can we only include documentaries in our research, or are films worth analysing as historical materials? Visual sources have been vital to social memory since early human history; cave paintings were important ways of expressing feelings and ideas. Since that ancient era, humans have created vast amounts of visual traces that can be read as texts and interpreted as representations of human behaviour and thoughts. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the moving picture has become an even more integral part of human history. Paraphrasing John Austin’s seminal question, how to do things with words, we can ask: how to do things with films? To understand their influences and manipulative potential, techniques of film are useful analytical tools; however, beyond that, we can examine films in many other ways. How did electronic visual images change our perception of reality? How did films influence knowledge in history, geography, and other fields? How did values transmitted through films shape social life, communication, and behaviour? During the seminars, we watch and analyse important and influential European films to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between the modern social world and the moving image. The aim of these class discussions is to place the films within their original political and cultural contexts to better understand their impacts. Monika Matay: Film and History: eyewitnessing How can historians use films as historical sources? Can we only incorporate documentaries into our research, or films in general are worth of historical analysis? Visual sources have been integral to social memory since the early times of human history, cave drawings had been important ways of expressing feelings and ideas. Since that ancient time period, the human being had produced immense amounts of visual traces which are supposed to be read as texts and interpreted as objectifications of human behavior and thoughts.

Tantárgy tartalma

Since the beginning of the 20th century the moving picture became even more integral part of human history. Paraphrasing John Austin’ seminal question, How to do things with words?, we can pose the question: How to do things with films? To understand the influences and manipulative potentials, techniques of films are possible analytical ways to approach this unique set of sources, but beyond that, we can turn to films in many other ways. How did electronic visual image change the perception of reality? How did films influence historical, geographic, etc. knowledge in general? How did values transmitted via films shape social life, communication, social behavior? During the seminars we watch and analyze a selection of important and influential European films in order to understand the relationship between modern social world and the moving picture more deeply. The goal of class discussions is to put the films into their original political and cultural context in order to get a better understanding of their impacts. Week 1 (February 15) Introduction Week 2 (February 22) Filmmaking and Making History Blow Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTaKAAkR2fw Burke, Peter, Interrogating the Eyewitness. Cultural and Social History December 2010, 435–443. (pdf file uploaded) Week 3 (February 29) Under the Microscope Ginzburg, Carlo, Microhistory: Two or Three Things That I Know about It. Critical Inquiry 1993, vol. 20. n. 1. 10–35. (pdf file uploaded) https://www.jstor.org/stable/1343946#metadata_info_tab_contents Ghobrial, John-Paul A., Introduction: Seeing the world like a microhistorian. Past & Present Vol. 242. issue supplement 14, November 2019, 1–22. (pdf file uploaded) Levi, Giovanni, On Microhistory. In Burke, Peter Ed. New Perspectives on Historical Writing. Cambridge, 1991. 97–119. (pdf file uploaded) Ginzburg, Carlo, Microhistory (2015). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFh1DdXToyE Week 4 (March 7) The Return of Martin Guerre on film The return of Martin Guerre (Daniel Vigne, 1982) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AN8bS3bvlM Week 5 (March 14) The return of Martin Guerre: historical analysis Davis, Natalie Zemon, The return of Martin Guerre. Cambridge, Mass., London, 1983. (pdf file uploaded) file:///C:/Users/x/Downloads/NatalieZemonDavisTheReturnofMartinGuerre.pdf Week 6 (March 21) The film, the book & the author Benson, Ed, Martin Guerre, the Historian and the Filmmakers: An Interview with Natalie Zemon Davis. Film & History vol. 13., n. 3., September 1983. 49–65. (pdf uploaded) Finlay, Robert, The Refashioning of Martin Guerre. The American Historical Review Vol. 93., N. 3., June 1988. 553–571. (pdf uploaded) Davis, Natalie Zemon, Remaking Impostors. Royal Holloway, University of London, 1995. (pdf uploaded) Week 7 (April 4) Nazi propaganda: who is witnessing? The Eternal Jew (1940) Martin, Tracey, How Germany convinced the Masses. History in the Making January 2020. (pdf uploaded) Week 8 (April 11) Witnessing the German Mission Riefenstahl, Leni, Triumph of the Will (1935). Riefenstahl, Leni, Olympia. Festival of Beauty (1936). Soussloff, Catherine M. - Nichols, Bill, Leni Riefenstahl: The Power of the Image. Discourse, Spring 1996, Vol. 18. No. 3. 20-44. (pdf uploaded) Week 9 (April 18) The Arsenic Poisoners Angelmakers (2005) Week 10 (April 25) Talking history Monument to the murderers (documentary, 2021) Deák, István, Endgame in Budapest. The Hungarian Quarterly 2005, No. 179. 96-109. (pdf uploaded) Week 11 (May 2) The Historian and the Witness Burke, Peter, Eyewitnessing. The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence. London: Reaktion Books, 2001. 157-168. (pdf uploaded) Week 11 (May 9) Discussing readings Week 12 (May 16) Discussing readings

Számonkérés és értékelés

Final grade: Attendance and participation in class discussions (50%), powerpoint presentation (25%), short essay (25%).

Irodalomjegyzék

Burke, Peter, Interrogating the Eyewitness. Cultural and Social History December 2010, 435–443. Ginzburg, Carlo, Microhistory: Two or Three Things That I Know about It. Critical Inquiry 1993, vol. 20. n. 1. 10–35. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1343946#metadata_info_tab_contents Ghobrial, John-Paul A., Introduction: Seeing the world like a microhistorian. Past & Present Vol. 242. issue supplement 14, November 2019, 1–22. Levi, Giovanni, On Microhistory. In Burke, Peter Ed. New Perspectives on Historical Writing. Cambridge, 1991. 97–119. Ginzburg, Carlo, Microhistory (2015). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFh1DdXToyE Davis, Natalie Zemon, The return of Martin Guerre. Cambridge, Mass., London, 1983. Benson, Ed, Martin Guerre, the Historian and the Filmmakers: An Interview with Natalie Zemon Davis. Film & History vol. 13., n. 3., September 1983. 49–65. (pdf uploaded) Finlay, Robert, The Refashioning of Martin Guerre. The American Historical Review Vol. 93., N. 3., June 1988. 553–571. Davis, Natalie Zemon, Remaking Impostors. Royal Holloway, University of London, 1995.  Martin, Tracey, How Germany convinced the Masses. History in the Making January 2020. Soussloff, Catherine M. - Nichols, Bill, Leni Riefenstahl: The Power of the Image. Discourse, Spring 1996, Vol. 18. No. 3. 20-44. Deák, István, Endgame in Budapest. The Hungarian Quarterly 2005, No. 179. 96-109. Burke, Peter, Eyewitnessing. The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence. London: Reaktion Books, 2001. 157-168.

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