Overview

During this course you will be introduced to issues relating to the re-use of tradition through the study of adaptations and/or recreations of literary texts, historical events or historical figures in Spanish and Italian cinema. You will thus become familiar with the socio-historical and ideological concerns that characterise contemporary Spain and Italy and you will reflect on the importance of film as a cultural medium.

Primary sources: Films - Luchino Visconti's 'Ossessione' (1943) - L. Comencini's 'Le avventure di Pinocchio' (1973) - Francesco Rosi, 'Carmen' (1984) - Carlos Saura, 'Carmen' (1983) - Film and literary adaptions of the myth of Pygmalion, including George Cukor's "My Fair Lady" (1964) - David Trueba, 'Soldados de Salamina' (2003)

Primary sources: Texts ** Compulsory reading materials (including short primary sources and required critical reading for seminars) will be made available via Blackboard. In the case of novels, the students are expected to read them in advance of the relevant class(es). - Collodi, Carlo, Le avventure di Pinocchio. Storia di un burattino, 1883 [in dossier] - Bizet, Georges, 'Carmen', libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy with English [in dossier] - Mérimée, Prosper, 'Carmen' trans. by Nicholas Jotcham (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998) [in dossier] - Quim Monzó, ‘Pigmalió’, in El perquè de toto plegat (Quaderns Crema, 1993). - Javier Cercas, 'Soldados de Salamina' (Tusqusts Editores, 2003); 'Soldiers of Salamis' (Bloomsbury, 2003)

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -D- - D+: A grasp of key issues pertaining to the relevant aspect of the re-use of tradition in Spanish and Italian cinema. At least partly successful attempts to frame an argument utilising secondary materials.

-good -C- - B+: Good grasp of key issues pertaining to the relevant aspect of the re-use of tradition in Spanish and Italian cinema. Solid analysis of topic area, making good use of relevant sources to support argument.

-excellent -A- - A*: Excellent grasp of key issues pertaining to relevant aspect of the re-use of tradition in Spanish and Italian cinema. Clear appreciation of topic, making excellent use of secondary materials and an impressive depth of knowledge and/or subtlety of analysis.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a familiarity with various genres and directors in Spanish and Italian cinema.

• Demonstrate an understanding of the significance and of purpose of the adaptation and recreation of literary events, texts, historical characters or events in Spanish and Italian cinema.

• Display a mastery of basic study skills, such as the ability to follow a course of reading, make effective use of notes and secondary sources, and benefit from class discussions.

• Display an awareness of film as an important cultural medium.

• Present arguments in presentations, essays and examinations supported with literary and/or critical evidence.