EUROPEAN CINEMA POLITICS ON FILM

What is the role of cinema? What is the relationship between politics and cinema? How would you regard the role moving images play in: Entertaining people Informing people Influencing people

The history of European film and politics Stages that are related to changing political situations: The absence of nation states War Interwar period Communist period The return of democracy Absence: emerging new form of art/entertainment; War: 1. ww.

War on films Definition of war movies: Sam Fuller director: "a war film’s objective, no matter how personal or emotional, is to make a viewer feel war”. John Belton - four narrative elements : a) the suspension of civilian morality during times of war, b) primacy of collective goals over individual motivations, c) rivalry between men in predominantly male groups as well as marginalization and objectification of women, d) depiction of the reintegration of veterans Kathryn Kane: similarities between the war film and the Western: opposing concepts like war and peace, civilization and savagery. 

First World War Films about life in the war Topics: prisoners of war, covert operations, and military training. Both the Central Powers and the Allies produced war documentaries. The films were also used as propaganda in neutral countries like the United States. Albert K. Dawson (official war photographer to the Central Powers): The Battle and Fall of Przmysl (1915) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7p6ssfF9sM

First World War 1916 British film The Battle of Somme, by two official cinematographers, Geoffrey Malins  and John McDowell, combined documentary and propaganda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_OZfaiUlc The film seeks to give the public an impression of what trench warfare was like. Much of the film was shot on location at the Western Front in France; it had a powerful emotional impact. It was watched by some 20 million people in Britain in its six weeks of exhibition, making it "one of the most successful films of all time". William A. Wellman’s Wings (1927) about the First World War, was the only silent film to win an Oscar for best picture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9P3XXvleo4

First World War Charlie Chaplin: The Bond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8eP2wxn33o The Sinking of the Lusitiana – first animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYKdXABWaFg

Assignment for 2 April, 2019 Choose one film/clip from the online collection of the Imperial War Museums and analyze its content in relation to: Its possible impact on the intended audience Its historical accuracy Its intended purpose https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/film Please note that this assigment should be made into a short persentation (5-6 minutes, depending on the film chosen) which you have to present during the class