Course info

This module explores the relationship between film and ideology, analyzing films from the mid-twentieth century up to the present day from a number of theoretical (Marxist, feminist, postcolonial, and psychoanalytical) and sociological perspectives. It aims to give an understanding of cinema as an ideological medium, which can both sustain and interrogate social and cultural norms and desires. The autumn term syllabus introduces students to notions of ideology and ideology critique, through watershed moments of US history – including the Cold War, the Watergate crisis, the Vietnam and Gulf Wars – examining how particular films promote, shape, and subvert dominant political ideologies. In the spring term, we shift to a more international perspective, to look at how a diverse selection of films from the US, Britain, Israel/Palestine, Germany, South Africa, and Argentina have tackled pressing ideological issues of recent times – including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, surveillance, immigration and detention, gender and violence. Hence, alongside mainstream US cinema, we explore ideological (counter)statements from elsewhere.

Module Supervisor's research in subject area
Shohini Chaudhuri's research into film has always emphasized its cultural aspects and implications. Recent relevant publications include Cinema of the Dark Side: Atrocity and the Ethics of Spectatorship (2014) and an article on terror, torture, and detention in 'Children of Men', which appears in the edited collection Postcolonial Cinema Studies (2012). She continually draws on these research frameworks in her teaching of this module.