78043 - Sociology of Cinema (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2023/2024

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing the fundamentals of the discipline of sociology and the tools that sociology has developed to analyze cultural objects and practices and to explain their genesis and social impact. At the end of the course, students: - know concepts, models, theories, and research methods related to the production and reception of culture, as well as to the sociological analysis of cultural texts, with specific attention to cinema; - are able to apply these conceptual and theoretical tools to the understanding of the mechanisms of production, distribution, evaluation, and consumption of film texts and genres; - are able to carry out empirical research on the world of cinema in its various components.

Course contents

The class is articulated in two parts. In the first we will build a toolbox for doing sociology of cinema according to the most recent sociological perspectives and methods - which are very different from what has for long "passed" as sociology of cinema in Italy and abroad, i.e. a social criticism of individual films and directors. In this part we will discuss the works of scholars like Howard Becker, Pierre Bourdieu, Paul DiMaggio and their followers, but will also focus on what is probably the first sociological empirical research on the cinema, i.e. Emilie Altenloh's Zur Soziologie des Kino (1914). In the second part of the course we will put in practice our tools in order to sociologically analyzing one case study: Quentin Tarantino's work. A research in progress will be presented and discussed in class.

Readings/Bibliography

Syllabus on the sociology of film (available on virtual learning platform)

Q. Tarantino, Cinema Speculation, Visiona Romantica 2022.

Teaching methods

Traditional, with teacher in class and video and slides support.

Assessment methods

Oral exam, with the possibility, in exceptional cases and for attending students, to discuss a research paper (min 5,000 words) on a subject/topic previously agreed upon with the teacher

Teaching tools

Slides and syllabus plus research materials

Office hours

See the website of Marco Santoro