Courses > 2013 Fall

Electives

CINE 401 - The Representation of the City

NELC 159 | COML 282 | ENGL 079 | JWST 102
401 | TR 1:30-3pm | WILL 202

This course focuses on the artistic ways in which the city--be it Jerusalem, Haifa or Nazareth--is represented in Israeli literature and film. The emotional and physical connection between the writer or director and his/her place of dwelling is transformed in the artistic work. The depiction of the city in prose, poetry and film reflects the inner world as well as ideological and political conflicts. The "city" may become a locus for national expression, of gender identification, or even of pure aesthetic enchantment. We will analyze how, in a film split between Tel Aviv and Tiberias, Shlomo Zarhin pays homage to his hometown, how the Carmel Mountain and Haifa bay allow Yehudit Katzir to expresses the complex bond with her mother; how the city streets enable Dahlia Ravikovitch and Meir Wieseltier examine questions of national loyalty; and how the Jerusalems of Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and Yehuda Amichai reflect their creators. THere will be 5-6 film screenings.