In this course we will explore the dark underworld of film noir, a film genre that flourished in the U.S. from the early 1940s to the late 1950s, and which continues to influence U.S. (and world) cinema today. In baroque effects of light and shade, these films conveyed dystopian, crime-ridden environments where appearances are deceptive, women are dangerously seductive femme fatales, criminals can be good guys, and detectives trying to order this world can seem like criminals. We will examine these films as artistic responses to cultural crises in the aftermath of WWII and the preceding Great Depression, as well as at the onset of a burgeoning consumer society. In particular we will look at how these works address contemporary challenges to traditional orderings of masculine identity and male authority. Thanks in part to low budgets, Hollywood censorship, and a boatload of exiled German directors who brought expressionism across the water, film noir was remarkably innovative—which makes the genre a rich site for formal analysis as well as historical and cultural study.
Rhythmus | Tag | Uhrzeit | Format / Ort | Zeitraum |
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Studiengang/-angebot | Gültigkeit | Variante | Untergliederung | Status | Sem. | LP | |
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British and American Studies / Master | (Einschreibung bis SoSe 2012) | MaAngHM3 | 4 | ||||
Interamerikanische Studien / Master | (Einschreibung bis SoSe 2012) | MaIAS6 | 4/8 | ||||
Interamerikanische Studien / Master | (Einschreibung bis SoSe 2012) | MaIAS4 | 3/6 | ||||
Literaturwissenschaft / Master | (Einschreibung bis SoSe 2009) | MaLit8 | |||||
Literaturwissenschaft / Master | (Einschreibung bis SoSe 2012) | MaLitAm2 |