Literature and Cinema

Description
This course contributes to the consolidation of the academic-professional profile of Modern Languages students by showing them that national cultures are a mosaic of written and visual “texts” constantly interacting with each other.

Fidelity, authenticity, intertextuality, genre boundaries, hybridity, reading conventions, and notions of the kind are all integral to the analysis of the transferences occurring between different art forms. This course focuses specifically on adaptation issues. It also investigates how the introduction of new communication technologies has transformed our perception of fictional texts and reality.

Literature and Cinema explores the type of “translation” that literary works undergo when they are taken to the screen. Since both arts rely on quite distinctive industries and semiotic systems, it will soon become apparent that our analyses of both “texts” are highly conditioned by the medium. As a result, such aspects as the relationship between the reader/viewer and the “text”, the concepts and protocols of analysis, the conventions to interpret each kind of narrative and the ideological implications are necessarily different in each of the two media.

Pre-requisites
Very good command of the English language (C1 MCER) and in-depth knowledge of the tools and techniques of social, narratological, and cultural analysis.

Contents
1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF FILM ADAPTATION.
2. KEY CONCEPTS AND ISSUES IN FILM CRITICISM.
3. FROM THE STAGE TO THE SCREEN: PROCEDURES, CHANGES,…
4. FILM LANGUAGE: HOW IS IT DIFFERENT AND, YET, SIMILAR.
5. FICTION INTO FILM: TRANSLATING MYTH, SYMBOLS, ARCHETYPES,…
6. FILM NARRATIVE AND HOW TO READ A FILMIC STORY.
7. FILM IDEOLOGY AND FILM AUDIENCES.

Methodology
The aforementioned competences will be acquired and perfected by means of the following activities to be carried out in the classroom and at home:
- Short introductory lectures on the key differences between the production and reception processes in both arts.
- In-class discussions of the aspects of narrative theory likely to be used in film criticism. Debate on the different types of filmic adaptation.
- Practical exercises of analysis of particular scenes and sequences from the films.
- Study questions on the techniques used in cinema to translate specific sections of a literary work.
- Practical exercises to elicit how we talk and write differently about film depending on the context and the audience: Reviews, plot summaries, film essay, etc.
- Short multiple-choice exercises to check whether the materials are being read and the discussions in class properly followed by the students.
- Brief impersonations of particular characters in front of the class.
- Group presentations of the work done on some of the critical essays read throughout the year. Some team research work will be assigned.
- Going out to one or two movies together and writing reviews or more theoretically-oriented essays.
- Final examination consisting of a theoretical exposition of some of the concepts and techniques discussed, and a practical analysis of a visual text.

Assessment
The assessment of the students work will be progressive and formative. It will include the following components:
1. Study questions, quizzes, practical exercises: 25%
2. Team presentations and reviews/essays: 35%
3. Final examination (Two essays): 40%