27853 - Audiovisual Forms of the Popular Culture (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2017/2018

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, by studying and reflecting on a specific object that will be selected and stated in the syllabus (a genus, a current, a corpus of works), students will acquire the cultural tools to frame the general issue of the dialectical relationship between élite culture and popular culture, with special reference to its manifestation in the context of audiovisual forms. Students will be able to move within the uneven frame of cultural studies trying to critically discuss the complex connection between individuals and societies, mediated by special cultural products.

Course contents

The relationship between popular culture and legitimate culture by analyzing the contemporary Italian cinema, especially with attention to films made by direct public funding.

Readings/Bibliography

Pierre Bourdieu, La distinzione. Critica sociale del gusto, il Mulino, Bologna, 2001. (fino a pag. 100)
Emanuela Mora (a cura di), Gli attrezzi per vivere, Vita & Pensiero, Milano, 2005.

Marco Cucco, Giacomo Manzoli (a cura di), Il cinema di Stato, il Mulino, Bologna, 2017

Teaching methods

Lectures with seminar discussion and eventual student presentations, either individually or in groups.


Assessment methods

Oral examination.


Teaching tools

Full viewing the following films (available from the Music and Entertainment Department's video library), it is an integral part of the syllabus.

- The Matinee Idol (1928) by Frank Capra

- Sullivan's Travels (1941) by Preston Sturges

- 10 films at student choice among those analyzed in the text for the monographic part.


Office hours

See the website of Giacomo Manzoli