Module LXS-2033:
The Cinema of Spain

Module Facts

Run by School of Arts, Culture and Language

20.000 Credits or 10.000 ECTS Credits

Semester 2

Organiser: Dr David Miranda-Barreiro

Overall aims and purpose

This module aims to provide an introduction to contemporary Spanish cinema through the analysis of a number of selected films. Emphasis will be placed upon the influence of cultural, social, economic, political and aesthetic factors on film production and reception. By analysing film language and exploring issues such as the construction of national identity, gender, auteur cinema and the transnational dialogue between Spanish cinema and Hollywood, students will become aware of the role that cinema has played in Spanish culture from the 1950s to the present.

Course content

The module will explore how Spanish cinema has reflected and dealt with socio-historical and political events, for example censorship, representations of the Spanish Civil War, and contemporary social issues in Spanish society. It will do so by also considering aesthetic and narrative aspects and the influence of different film movements (e.g. Neorealism, Nouvelle Vague, Social Realism) through the lens of several film theories, which might include auteur theory, star-system, and national/transnational cinema.

Assessment Criteria

threshold

D- - D+: For the award of credit, students should demonstrate a satisfactory comprehension of the various topics studied, with some understanding of the correlations and interrelations highlighted

good

C- - B+: For the award of higher grades, students should demonstrate a solid comprehension of the various topics studied, with clear understanding of the correlations and interrelations highlighted, having also analysed and evaluated key sources.

excellent

A- - A*: For the award of the highest grade, students should demonstrate a detailed comprehension of the various topics studied, with a nuanced understanding of the correlations and interrelations highlighted, having also analysed and evaluated key sources thoroughly.

Learning outcomes

  1. To gain an informed understanding of contemporary Spanish film.

  2. To develop a critical approach to cinema as well as an understanding of its key stylistic features.

  3. To explore cinema within a contextual approach that relates to the values of the society it depicts.

  4. To gain a critical awareness of contemporary Spanish culture and the history of Spanish film of the 1950s to the present.

Assessment Methods

Type Name Description Weight
essay 1 40.00
essay 2 60.00

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Hours
 

One 1-hour lecture per week for 11 weeks [Introduction to Topics] One 1-hour seminar per week for 11 weeks [Textual Analysis and Critical Discussion]

  
Private study 178
Lecture

1 lecture and 1 seminar per week.

 22

Transferable skills

  • Literacy - Proficiency in reading and writing through a variety of media
  • Self-Management - Able to work unsupervised in an efficient, punctual and structured manner. To examine the outcomes of tasks and events, and judge levels of quality and importance
  • Exploring - Able to investigate, research and consider alternatives
  • Information retrieval - Able to access different and multiple sources of information
  • Inter-personal - Able to question, actively listen, examine given answers and interact sentistevely with others
  • Critical analysis & Problem Solving - Able to deconstruct and analyse problems or complex situations. To find solutions to problems through analyses and exploration of all possibilities using appropriate methods, rescources and creativity.
  • Presentation - Able to clearly present information and explanations to an audience. Through the written or oral mode of communication accurately and concisely.
  • Argument - Able to put forward, debate and justify an opinion or a course of action, with an individual or in a wider group setting
  • Self-awareness & Reflectivity - Having an awareness of your own strengths, weaknesses, aims and objectives. Able to regularly review, evaluate and reflect upon the performance of yourself and others

Subject specific skills

  • Extract and synthesise key information from written and/or spoken sources in English / Welsh and/or the target language. (Benchmark statement 5.14)
  • The ability to organise and present ideas within the framework of a structured and reasoned argument in written and/or oral assignments and class discussions. (Benchmark statement 5.14)
  • Critical skills in the close reading, description, reasoning and analysis of primary and secondary sources in the target language and/or English or Welsh (incl. filmic, literary and other sources). (Benchmark statement 5.13, 5.14, 5.15)
  • Competence in the planning and execution of essays, presentations and other written and project work; bibliographic skills, including the accurate citation of sources and consistent use of conventions and appropriate style in the presentation of scholarly work. (Benchmark statement 5.10, 5.14, 5.15)
  • The ability to gather information, analyse, interpret and discuss different viewpoints and to place these in a wider socio-cultural and/or geo-historical and political and/or socio-linguistic context and to revise and re-evaluate judgements in light of those of the course leader, certain individuals or groups studied and/or fellow students. (Benchmark statement 5.13, 5.15 and 5.16)
  • The ability to write and think under pressure and meet deadlines. (Benchmark statement 5.15)
  • The ability to write effective notes and access and manage course materials including electronic resources / information provided on online learning platforms and library resources. (Benchmark statement 5.15, 5.16)
  • The ability to work creatively and flexibly both independently and/or as part of a team. (Benchmark statement 5.15).
  • The ability and willingness to engage with and appreciate other cultures and to articulate to others (in written and verbal form) the contribution that the culture has made at a regional and global level. (Benchmark statement 5.7)
  • The ability to grasp and discuss how films reflect objective or subjective positions in their treatment of their subject matter. (Benchmark statement 5.7 and 5.10)
  • The ability to comprehend, critically engage with and apply relevant theoretical concepts to materials being studied. (Benchmark statement 5.10)
  • The ability to engage in analytical, evaluative and original thinking. (Benchmark statement 5.14)
  • Critical understanding of key topics in the sphere of modern critical, cultural and translation theory, highlighting landmark figures and offering close readings of segments of their texts. (Benchmark statement 5.10)
  • The ability to organise and present ideas and arguments in presentations, classroom discussions and debates. (Benchmark statement 5.14, 5.16)
  • Develop reading and audio-visual comprehension skills in the target language through the study of primary sources in the target language. (Benchmark statement 5.3, 5.4)
  • The ability to develop and manage an independent research project in English/Welsh. (Benchmark statement 5.10, 5.15, 5.16)
  • Skills in the critical reading and analysis of literary and/or musical and/or filmic texts. (Benchmark statement 5.10)
  • The ability to analyse, interpret and historically contextualise a range of films in the target language using different forms of critical analysis (cultural, historical, socio-political, literary etc.). (Benchmark statement 5.7, 5.10 and 5.14)
  • Sensitivity to and critical evaluation of key cinematic techniques and the use of cinematic imagery and language. (Benchmark statement 5.10)
  • The ability to critically understand, analyse and interpret the main events shaping Spanish history and culture (benchmark statement 5.7, 5.10 and 5.11)
  • The ability to critically understand Spanish and Hispanic culture and its relationship to other cultures. (Benchmark statement 5.7)
  • The ability to analyse Spanish-language texts (incl. films, visual materials and ideas) and place them in a wider historical-political and socio-cultural context. (Benchmark statement 5.4, 5.7, and 5.11)
  • The ability to write an analytical film and/or book review in English / Welsh.
  • The ability to critically understand the impact and effects of the Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship in Spanish contemporary society (Benchmark statement 5.7)
  • The ability to critically understand the on-going debates about the role played by memory and forgetting in Spanish contemporary history (Benchmark statement 5.7)
  • The ability to analyse, interpret and historically contextualise a range of Spanish, Galician and Catalan films using different forms of critical analysis (cultural, historical, socio-political and literary). (Benchmark statement 5.7, 5.10 and 5.14)
  • 9.The ability to critically understand key topics in the sphere of modern critical, cultural and translation theory, highlighting landmark figures and offering close readings of segments of their texts. (Benchmark statement 5.10)

Resources

Talis Reading list

http://readinglists.bangor.ac.uk/modules/lxs-2033.html

Reading list

General Bibliography:

Bentley Bernard P. E., A Companion to Spanish Cinema (London: Tamesis, 2008)

Deveny, Thomas, Cain on Screen: Contemporary Spanish Cinema (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 1999)

D'Lugo, Marvin, Guide to the Cinema of Spain (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1997)

Fiddian, Robin W. and Peter W. Evans, Challenges to Authority: Fiction and Film in Contemporary Spain (London: Tamesis Books, 1988)

Jordan, Barry and Mark Allison, Spanish Cinema: a Student’s Guide (London: Hodder Arnold, 2005)

Jordan, Barry and Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas, Contemporary Spanish Cinema (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998)

Labanyi, Jo and Tajana Pavlovic, A Companion to Spanish Cinema (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).

Oria, Beatriz, Elena Oliete-Aldea and Juan A. Tarancón (eds.), Global Genres, Local Films: the Transnational Dimension of Spanish Cinema (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016)

Pavlovic, Tatjana, 100 years of Spanish Cinema (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)

Triana-Toribio, Nuria, Spanish National Cinema (London: Routledge, 2003)

Smith, Paul, Spanish Screen Fiction: between Cinema and Television (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2009)

Stone, Rob, Spanish Cinema (New York: Longman, 2002)

Resina Joan Ramon (ed.), Burning Darkness: a Half Century of Spanish Cinema, ed. (Albany: SUNY Press, 2008)

Pre- and Co-requisite Modules

Courses including this module

Compulsory in courses:

Optional in courses: