2024-2025 Course Flipbook v2 - Flipbook - Page 41
course allows students to fully engage in a deep, re昀氀ective self-journey, as we boldly
confront hard historical pasts and their impacts on our present and future.
HISTORY PRACTICUM: HISTORY AND POLITICS THROUGH FILM
Movies are a part of the very fabric of our lives. They can entertain, shock, and comfort
us. They’ve helped us form a shared global narrative language. They are not only
incredible artistic achievements, but also visceral, engrossing historical texts. In History
and Politics through Film, students examine the elements of 昀椀lm form, the origin of the
world’s various 昀椀lm industries, and the connection between local and international social
movements and the movies they produced. Through 昀椀lm analysis, classroom discussion,
and student-directed research and presentation projects, students create artistic and
historical theories and dive into the rich tapestry of modern global culture. Students hone
their historical thinking skills as they closely examine primary sources, write persuasive
arguments, and engage with critical discussions about 20th and 21st century history
and current events. Film movements explored in this class include the Hollywood Studio
System, Soviet New Humanism, the African New Wave and Afrofuturism, American and
international comedy and horror, Indian “Bollywood” and Nigerian “Nollywood,” and
documentary cinema. Some 昀椀lms we examine include It Happened One Night (Capra,
1934,) The Cranes are Flying (Kalatozov, 1957,) Black Girl (Sembene, 1966,) Close Up
(Kiarostami, 1990,) Get Out (Peele, 2017,) and RRR (Rajamouli, 2022) among many others.
The school year will culminate in a museum curation project, during which students work
with a curator from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles to design and
pitch our own 昀椀lm history exhibits.
~ Ayla ‘24, Barnard College
HISTORY
“My favorite class at Field has been my History and Politics
through Film class. I have always loved watching movies,
and it was so fun to explore them as real texts, being able
to delve into their deeper meanings and symbolism, as
well as their historical contexts. ”
