42768 - Cinema and Literature

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to investigate the interconnections between texts and languages in the field of film and literature. They will develop a good capacity of analysis through the exercise on exemplary study cases. They will be able to set analysis against the background of film history and cultural history.

Course contents

The course “cinema and literature + cinema and literature module 2” is a teaching composed of module 1 and module 2.

In its entirety, the course analyzes various forms of writing nurturing to the complex cultural ecosystem of cinematic entertainment. From film journalism to gossip, artistic autobiography, novels, and drama, these forms of writing influence films in various ways. The general context is Hollywood. We will analyze production and narrative structure, actors' engagement on- and off-screen. Examples of texts and films draw from the Hollywood period between the 1940s and the 1960s. Each case study will be investigated in relation to the American cinema; the Studio System and Star System; the national culture; celebrity culture of the period of reference.

To complete the full amount of 9 credits of the course Cinema and Literature, students must follow both programs: the FIRST TEACHING MODULE held by professor Sara Pesce and the SECOND TEACHING MODULE held by lecturer Costanza Salvi (see program published on-line 42768 - CINEMA AND LITERATURE (Module 2)). At the end of the first module, there will be an intermediate test taking place in mid-November. Then, a second test will take place at the end of the second module (in December). After these two tests, a list of exam sessions will follow, comprising the program of both modules.

In the first module we will focus on the following personalities: the writers Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote, the actresses Elizabeth Taylor, Anna Magnani, Audrey Hepburn, and the actors Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, the gossip columnist Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. Each case study will be investigated within the history of the Hollywood cinema and within the structure of Studio System and Star System as well as in relation to the national culture of the period, dealing with exchanges between cinema and theatre, celebrity culture, and taking into account important modifications produced by society on the narrative form of autobiography.

The module contains an insight on the work of:

Tennessee Williams, his influence on a new actorship in the United States, his bridging Italian neorealism with American cinematic imaginary.

Truman Capote, his depiction of new lifestyles and celebrity styles in the American 1950s.

In the second module we will focus on the following personalities: the writers Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and Niven Busch, the actresses Ingrid Bergman and Barbara Stanwyck, the actors Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and Gilbert Roland. We investigate the relationship between hard-boiled novels and Noir films during the 1940s and, then, the extension and expansion of a few Noir elements into the Western. Each case study is investigated within the history of Hollywood cinema, from the classical style to its evolution in the late 1940s, focusing on aspects linked to Studio System and Star System as well as to the national culture of the period.

The module contains an insight on the work of:

Raymond Chandler, and the influence of the hard-boiled school on the filmic genre of Noir, in relation to both the overturning of a paradigm linked to male and female characters in classical Hollywood and to the creation of a specific imaginary on the narrative space, urban and non-urban, and on its social characterization. We will also focus on oral and acoustic aspects (the colloquial style and voice-over).

Niven Busch, the hybridization between Noir and Western, in relation to specific settings and spatial representations, historical and rural, and to the expansion of female characters within a genre usually dedicated to the centrality and specificity of male characters.

Readings/Bibliography

Collection of critical articles including a series of essays on the theme of the relationship between cinema and literature in the specific American context of reference and on the themes of the course; case study analysis. These materials will be available on Virtuale from September 10, 2023 when they will be uploaded on the platform, subdivided in thematic blocs.

There is no distinction between attending students and non-attending students.

Teaching methods

Lecture with examples from the films and texts indicated in the program. Projection of all films in the filmography.

The filmography includes film adaptations from literary texts and films that have been crucial in the career of actors and actresses. All films are to be watched integrally

Module One

A Streetcar Named Desire, Elia Kazan, 1951

The Rose Tattoo, Daniel Mann, 1955

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Elia Kazan, 1958

The Fugitive Kind, Sidney Lumet, 1960

Breakfast at Tiffany, Blake Edwards, 1961

Module Two

Casablanca, Michael Curtiz, 1942

Double Indemnity, Billy Wilder, 1944

Out of the Past, Jacques Tourneur, 1947

The Furies, Anthony Mann, 1950

Lecture with examples from the films and texts indicated in the program. Projection of all films in the filmography.

The filmography includes film adaptations from literary texts and films that have been crucial in the career of actors and actresses. All films are to be watched integrally

Assessment methods

'Written exam including multiple choice questions and open questions. Students will be examined on the basis of their knowledge of the collection of critical articles and their ability to critically analyze the films included in the filmography.

Teaching tools

'Film projections, videos, slides, powerpoint

Office hours

See the website of Sara Pesce

See the website of Costanza Salvi