Module Identifier TF30920  
Module Title ALTERNATIVE CINEMA  
Academic Year 2003/2004  
Co-ordinator Dr Ernest Mathijs  
Semester Semester 1  
Pre-Requisite TF10220  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   5 x 1 hour  
  Other   10 x 2 hour  
  Lecture   10 x 2 hour  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment 3 part portfolio (20 item dossier and 1500 word reflection) For information on due dates for submission of assessed work, please refer to the departmental web pages at http://www.aber.ac.uk/tfts/duedates.shtml 60%
Semester Assessment 3500 word essay  40%

Learning outcomes

Typically, upon completion of this module students will be able to identify and analyse style in alternative films,

work with the concept of ?reading against the grain? in studying alternative film

analyse specific instances of reflexivity in alternative films and relate these instances to other elements of the films

make use of reception and audience practices in studying alternative film

) make critical use of relevant reading in support of other learning outcomes

Content

This module introduces students to the practices and reception of what is known as ?alternative cinema?. A first part of the module is devoted to a historical overview of alternative cinema in its diverse appearances. Special attention will be paid to questions of style and the avant-garde (using Artaud?s concept of theatre of cruelty). We will also concentrate on how quasi-mainstream cinema (rive gauche cinema, art-house cinema) evokes alternative readings through so called ?reading against the grain?. ?Un chien andalou?, ?Koyaanisqatsi?, and ?rive gauche cinema? (Alain Resnais, Alain Robbe-Grillet) will be used as case studies. A second part of the module is devoted to the concept of reflexivity (films commenting on their own premisses), that runs throughout alternative cinema, and to the practices of alternative readings of reflexive cinema. Specifically, the module will focus on critical practices in alternative reading, and on reading practices that different audiences (fans, unintended viewers) employ. ?S.?, ?The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?, ?Daughters of Darkness?, and the films of David Cronenberg (?Stereo?, Shivers?, ?Videodrome?, ?The Fly?, and ?Crash?) will be used as case studies.

Indicative sessions might include:
1) Introductory lecture: the importance of style and ?reading against the grain? in studying alternative film
2) The historical Avant-Garde cinema and Artaud?s ?theatre of cruelty?
3) Issues in Postwar and contemporary Avant-Garde cinema
4) ?Rive gauche cinema? and the reception of art-film
5) Reflexivity as a key concept in (reading) alternative film
6) Reflexivity and the boundaries of genre cinema: the horror film
7) Reflexivity and paracinema: beyond conventions of taste
8) Making films alternative through alternative readings: The Fly (1986)
9) Researching alternative audiences of film: `perverse spectators?, `textual poachers? and `cult?.
10) Controversy and `alternative cinema: the reception of Crash (1996)

Aims

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the practices and reception of what is known as ?alternative cinema?. It does this in the following way:
1) it presents a historical overview of alternative cinema, with special attention to questions of style and the avant-garde
2) it discusses how alternative cinema evokes alternative readings through so called ?reading against the grain?
3) it studies the concept of reflexivity (films commenting on film), and the practices of alternative readings of reflexive cinema.
4) it focuses on critical practices in alternative reading, and on reading practices that audiences (fans, unintended viewers) employ.

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Background
Barker, Martin, Jane Arthurs & Ramaswami Harindranath (2001) The Crash Controversy London: Wallflower Press
Beard, William (2001) The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg Toronto: Toronto University Press
Bermel, Albert (1977) Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty London: Methuen
Carroll, Noel (1998) Interpreting the Moving Image Cambridge UP
Grant, Michael (ed) (2000) The Modern Fantastic: the films of David Cronenberg Trowbridge: Flicks Books
Harper, G & X. Mendix (eds) Unruly Pleasures: the Cult Film and its Critics Guilford: FAB Press
Jenkins, Henry (2000) 'Reception Theory and Audience Research', in C. Gledhill & L. Williams (eds) Reinventing Film Studies London: Arnold
MacDonald, Scott (1993) Avant-Garde Film: Motion Studies Cambridge University Press
Marchetti, Gina (1986) 'Subcultural Studies and the Film Audience: Rethinking the Film Viewing Context' in Bruce Austin (ed) Current Research in Film (vol.2) Norwood (NJ)
Mathijs, Ernest (2002) 'The Making of a Cult Reputation: Topicality and Controversy in the reception of Shivers' (forthcomnig in M. Jancovich et al (eds) Cult Movies; the Cultural Politics of Oppositional Taste Manchester UP
Polan, Dana (1978) 'A Brechtian Cinema? Towards a Politics of SelfReflexive Film' in Nicholas, B. (ed) Movies and Methods ii Berkeley: UCP
Rees, A. I. (1999) A History of Experimental Film and Video London: BFI
Rodley, Chris (1997) Cronenberg on Cronenberg London: Faber & Faber
Staiger, Janet (2000) Perverse Spectators; the Practices of Film Reception New York: New York UP
Stam, Robert (1985) Reflexivity in Film and Literature New York: Columbia UP
Telotte, J. P. (ed) (1991) The Cult Film Experience. Beyond All Reason

Journals
Austin, Bruce 'Portrait of an Art Film Audience' in Journal of Communication. Vol 34, Mr. 1
Bordwell, David (1979) 'The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice'; in Film Criticism. Vol.4, Nr. 1
Jeffrey Sconce (1995) 'Trashing the Academy: Taste, Excess and an Emerging Politics of Cinematic Style' in Screen Vol.36 Nr. 4
Kael, Pauline (1960) 'Fantasies of the Art-House Audience' in Sight and Sound
Mathijs, Ernest (forthcomin) 'It may not be such a bad disease after all': AIDS References in the Critical Reception of Cronenberg Cinema Journal

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6