Cinema in the Anthropocene
| Module title | Cinema in the Anthropocene |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAF3519 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Aidan Power (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
This module seeks to interrogate the role of cinema in the Anthropocene: the rapidly overheating, man-made, geological epoch that we all inhabit. Divided into four sections (Origins, The Myth of Progress, Living in the Anthropocene, Sustainable Practices), the module will engage with film industries’ relationship to the environment since the silent era, pursuing intersectional approaches that seek to understand the Anthropocene through considerations of gender, capitalism, colonialism and class. Films from across the globe will be analysed and the final section of the module will place particular emphasis upon sustainable filmmaking and viewing practices. There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for this module.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to:
- enable you to engage with and contextualise a wide cross-section of films and film industries from across the globe.
- encourage you to trace links between the emergence of cinema as a mass medium and the acceleration of the climate crisis, and in so doing, to consider how film has always been a documenter of the Anthropocene.
- empower you to critically engage with intersectional theoretical approaches to the Anthropocene.
- encourage you to consider and pursue sustainable aesthetic, production and viewing practices.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate a strong appreciation of cinemas role as documenter/contributor to the Anthropocene
- 2. Compare and contrast different films and film industries on the module
- 3. Enter scholarly conversations on intersectional theoretical approaches relevant to the Anthropocene
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse critical concepts and close-read films
- 5. Demonstrate an advanced ability to contextualise findings within socio-political and historical contexts
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Through seminar/session work, demonstrate communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 7. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research skills, strong writing skills, and competence in bibliographical referencing
- 8. Through research and writing, demonstrate an advanced capacity to make critical use of secondary material and to reflect on your own learning process
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
Section 1: Origins
Quantifying the Anthropocene
Recreating the World in Our Image: Cinema as Documenter of the Anthropocentric
A Human Epoch: The Great Acceleration
Section 2: The Myth of Progress
Capitalism and Perpetual Growth in a Finite Planet
Colonialism and the Anthropocene
Retrofuturist Departures
Section 3: Living in the Anthropocene
Extreme Weather
Climate Migration
Ecofeminist Futures
Section 4: Sustainable Practices
Sustainable Filmmaking
Sustainable Viewing: Streaming the Anthropocene
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 66 | 234 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 33 | Lectures and Seminars |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 33 | Film Screenings |
| Guided Independent Study | 33 | Study Groups |
| Guided Independent Study | 70 | Seminar preparation (individual) |
| Guided Independent Study | 131 | Reading, research and essay |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case study portfolio | 30 | 2000 words | 1-8 | |
| Essay | 70 | 4500 words | 1-8 | |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case study portfolio (2000 words) | Case study portfolio (2000 words) | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Essay (4500 words) | Essay (4500 words) | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic Viewing:
Aniara (Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja; Sweden, 2018),
Atlantique (Mati Diop; Senegal, 2019)
Bait (Mark Jenkin; UK, 2019)
Dune (Denis Villeneuve; US, 2021)
Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher; Italy, 2018)
Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho; South Korea, 2013)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Buster Keaton; US, 1928)
There Will be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson; US, 2007)
Weathering with You (Makoto Shinkai; Japan, 2019)
Basic reading:
Bould, Mark. The Anthropocene Unconscious: Climate, Catastrophe, Culture. Verso 2021.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. “The Climate of History: Four Theses.” Critical Inquiry. 35.2 (2009): 197-222.
Derrida, Jacques. “No Apocalypse, Not Now (Full Speed Ahead, Seven Missiles, Seven Missives),” Diacritics 14:2 (1984): 20-31.
Evans, Jennifer. “Nomenclature, Narrative, and Novum: “The Anthropocene” and/as Science Fiction,” Science Fiction Studies. 45 (2018): 484-499.
Fay, Jennifer. Inhospitable World: Cinema in the Time of the Anthropocene. Oxford UP, 2018.
Ghosh, Amitav, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Haraway, Donna. “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin,” Environmental Humanities. 6.1 (2015): 159-165.
Latour, Bruno. Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climactic Regime. New York: Polity, 2018.
Marks, Laura U. “Let's Deal with the Carbon Footprint of Streaming Media,” Afterimage. 47.2, 2020: 46-52.
Yusoff, Kathryn. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. London: Verso, 2018.
The Salvage Collective, The Tragedy of the Worker: Towards the Proletarocene, Verso 2021.
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 24/01/2022 |
| Last revision date | 24/02/2022 |
