The Writer and the Cinema

lrom2856  2020-2021  Louvain-la-Neuve

The Writer and the Cinema
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information below is subject to change, in particular that concerning the teaching mode (presential, distance or in a comodal or hybrid format).
5 credits
15.0 h
Q1

  This biannual learning unit is not being organized in 2020-2021 !

Teacher(s)
Maeder Costantino;
Language
Italian
Main themes
In this seminar we will approach the themes concerning the perception an author has of himself, of his works and of his public. We will analyse the strategies of manipulation, of argumentation, and the practical execution (or non-execution) in a selection of works of the author in question. The student will demonstrate his or her ability to use, in a critical and personal fashion, the strategies of interpretation and of analysis presented in other master courses of the program.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1
  • To be able to analyse an Italian libretto.
  • To know how a libretto functions.
  • To know the characteristics of a libretto and of Italian operas.
  • To know how to write-up an analysis.
  • To have read the fundamental libretti.
  • To know how to interpret a libretto according to semiotic and post-semiotic methods.
  • To know how to recognize the distinctive traits of a libretto and to replace them in their cultural context.
 
Content
This course investigates the strange and comic character, the loner and misfit, particularly loved by Italian writers and directors from the very beginnings.

Pier Paolo Pasolini one of the major writers, directors, and essayists, has tried to define screen writing as a new literary genre. Why don't we accept screen writing as an art form of its own, as it is now the case for plays or poetry (often written for music or other art forms)

We will investigate how novelists and playwrights approached cinema and screen writing and how they interpreted the socially unadapted person as filmic and literary character.

We will read, watch and analyze the following movies, scripts and novels:

La ricotta, written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Miracolo a Milano, directed by Vittoria de Sica, written by Cesare Zavattini, adapted from his book Totò il buono.

La voce della luna, written and directed by Federico Fellini, based on the novel Il poema dei lunatici by Ermanno Cavazzoni who participated actively as screenwriter during the shooting of the film.
Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

This course fosters the active participation of the student. In a first moment, the teacher will introduce theoretical and analytical approaches and offer a historical overview of Italian writers and their relation to cinema. The student writes an essay on an analogous topic. He will discuss it in public and then write an academic paper.
Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Final evaluation base on an academic paper, ~12-15 pages.
Other information
A cineforum will accompany this course.
Bibliography
P.P.Pasolini, Empirismo eretico, Milano, Garzanti, 1975.
P.P. Pasolini, La ricotta, in Per il cinema, Milano : Mondadori, 2001.
P.P. Pasolini, Che cosa sono le nuvole, in Per il cinema, Milano : Mondadori, 2001.
Shakespeare, Othello,
P.P. Pasolini, Teorema, in Per il cinema, Milano : Mondadori, 2001
P.P. Pasolini, Teorema, romanzo, Milano : Garzanti 1968.

V. Cerami, Consigli a un giovane scrittore, Milano, Mondadori, 2010.
S. Chatman, Story and discourse: narrative structure in fiction and film, Ithaca (N.Y.), Cornell University press, 1983.
S. Cortellazzo, D. Tomasi, Letteratura e cinema, Bari, Laterza 2008.
N. Dusi, Il cinema come traduzione, Torino, Utet, 2006.
V. Jouve, L'effet-personnage dans le roman, Paris, Puf, 1998.
B. McFarlane, Novel to Film. An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996.
Lu Shengui, Transformation et réception du texte par le film: pour une nouvelle problématique de l'adaptation, Bern, Peter Lang, 1999.
Faculty or entity
ELAL


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [60] in Modern Languages and Literatures : General

Master [120] in French and Romance Languages and Literatures : General

Master [120] in Modern Languages and Literatures : General