CMS 572 A: Historiography

The course addresses ways in which cinema studies have interacted with writing history. The inquiry leads to rethinking the meaning of film, history, and writing. The course therefore encourages students to explore experimental modes of presenting history, such as creative prose or video essays.

Tentative syllabus:

Week 1: Writing (film) history

• Vivian Sobchack, “What Is Film History?
• Robert Doran, "Choosing the Past: Hayden White and the Philosophy of History"
• Jane Gaines, ""What Happened to the Philosophy of Film History?"
• Greenaway, TV Dante (selection)

Week 2: The ethics of historical witnessing

• Rosenstone, "To See the Past" (selection)
• Baecque, Camera Historica (Introduction)
• Levinas, "The Face" and "Responsibility for the Other"
• Didi-Huberman, "Four Pieces of Film Snatched from Hell"
• Felman, “In an Era of Testimony: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah”
• Lanzmann, Shoah (selection)

Week 3: Counter-archive

• Baecque, Camera Historica (Introduction) 
• Paula Amad, ““Film as ‘the skin of History’”
• Baron, The Archive Effect (“Introduction”)
• Godard, Histoire(s) du cinema (part I)

Week 4: Film history in/as crisis

• Susan Sontag, "The Decay of Cinema"
• Paolo Cherchi Usai, The Death of Cinema (selection)
• Andrew, What Cinema Is! (prologue)
• Andrew, “Time Zones and Jetlag”

Week 5: Post-cinematic histories

• Mulvey, Death 24 X Second (“Passing Time”)
• Casetti, Intro and “The Persistence of Cinema in a Post-Cinematic Age”
• Allen, “Reimagining the History of the Experience of Cinema in a Post-Moviegoing Age”
• Larkin, “Degraded Images, Distorted Sounds”

Weeks 6-7: TBA

Week 8: Film history at the UW

• Bean, "Introduction" in A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema 
• Tweedie, "Introduction" in The Age of New Waves
• Groening, "We Can See Ourselves as Others See Us"
• Wong Kar-wai, In the Mood for Love

Week 9: Thanksgiving

Week 10: Histories of national cinema

• Hayward, "Framing National Cinemas"
• First, "Introduction" and "Conclusion," in Ukrainian Cinema (selection)
• Sarkar, "Introduction," in Mourning the Nation
• van der Heide, "Film in Malaysia" (selection)
• Chan, "The international film festival and the making of a national cinema"

Week 11: Media/screen archeology

• Parikka, What is Media Archaeology? (Introduction)
• Elseasser, “The New Film History as Media Archeology”
• Casetti, “Primal Screens”
• McQuire, Media City (selection)

Exam week: peer-review of student projects