Carnegie Mellon University

Topics in French & Francophone Studies

Course Number: 82-415/416

SPRING 2024: Remaking culture: Hollywood's obsession with French cinema -

From German realism to Asian cinema via Italian neo-realism and the French New Wave, Hollywood has been fascinated and deeply influenced by foreign cinema in general and French cinema in particular. Countless foreign films have had success in the United States and numerous remakes have appeared on screen, with French films leading the charge. What inspired these American directors to remake French films in the American idiom? This class will examine American remakes of foreign films, as well as their original sources. Remake as a cinematographic genre will be studied. Through readings, lectures and class discussions, students will be led to explore the differences between various dimensions of foreign and American film-making with regards to cinematography, editing techniques, and production. Close examination of particular scenes and sequences will also be conducted and will be used as a basis for intercultural exploration. Complementing what they see on screen with selected readings, students will be asked to make hypotheses on the similarities and differences between foreign and American film-making on the one hand, foreign and American cultures on the other hand. Students will be able to demonstrate the results of their analyses in a variety of ways, from paper writing to filmmaking or multimedia creation.

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Units: 9
Prerequisite(s): 82303 and 82304