ITA345H1 — Cinema of Italian Diasporas 2014-2015 Professor Gaoheng Zhang Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto Office Location and Hours: Tuesday, 3-4 PM and Thursday, 11 AM-12 PM, Carr Hall 209 gaoheng.zhang@utoronto.ca Screenings: Monday, 3-6 PM, Media Commons Theatre 3025 in Robarts Lectures: Thursday, 12-2 PM, Carr Hall 405 (Course description from the catalogue) This course will examine how several filmmakers of Italian descent engage with the representation of their diasporic identity. Particular emphasis will be placed on Italian-Canadian and Italian-American cinema, as well as on Italian cineastes working in Argentina, Brazil, and Australia. The course will analyze films that span from silent to contemporary, from the formation of the stereotypical images to the re-appropriation of archetypes on the part of “ethnic” filmmakers. This course includes a component designed to enhance students’ research experience. Distribution Requirement Status: This is a Humanities course Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1) Detailed Course Description This course studies the rich repertoire of Italian filmmaking about diasporic and migrant communities. It explores a central question: How do transnational and transcultural films interrogate Italian identities through depictions of mobility? The course helps students interpret cinematic depictions of diverse Italian mobilities and diasporic identities by constructing arguments about their differences and similarities. Films are organized into four interlinking percorsi (routes) including “Italian Emigration” (to North America), “Internal Migration in Italy” (from the South to the North), “Italian Colonialism” (in the Mediterranean including Libya and Greece), and “Immigration to Italy” (from Africa and China). Both well-known (e.g., Amelio, Scorsese, Visconti, Salvatores, and Wertmüller) and emerging filmmakers (e.g., Garrone and Segre) are featured for coverage. No prior knowledge of Italian cinema is required to enroll in this course. All films have subtitles in English. 1 Course Goals This course is designed to develop your critical thinking and speaking and writing skills in the context of cinema of Italian diasporas. You will experience, interact, and critique ongoing conversations about migrant and diasporic communities in Italian culture through films. This means you must come to class with written notes (comments and questions) that you have taken while viewing the films and preparing for class. These will serve as raw materials for class discussions. I will also provide study questions. Your notes will help you prepare for discussions in an efficient and cogent way. Occasionally, you will be asked to do short writing in class as an exercise to build up your confidence and sharpen your skills for the essays. You will generate your own research questions for the essays. I will provide you with possible topics too if you consult me with ideas for the essays. Marking Scheme and Grade Scale Critical Essay 1: 20% Critical Essay 2: 35% Term Test: 35% Quizzes, Preparation, Participation, and Attendance: 10% A+: 90-100; A: 85-89; A-: 80-84; B+: 77-79; B: 73-76; B-: 70-72; C+: 67-69; C: 63-66; C-: 60-62; D+: 57-59; D: 53-56; D-: 50-52; F: 0-49. (In accordance with “University Assessment and Grading Practices Policy”) Course Requirements Film Screenings: You are encouraged to attend all film screenings, which take place during 3-6 PM on Mondays, in Media Commons Theatre 3025 in Robarts. If you must miss a screening, it is your responsibility to view the film in another way before class. All films are on reserve in Kelly and Robarts Libraries. Collective viewing of these films on a big screen is an important experience for a film class. Readings: Readings are available on the Blackboard. You should print them, read them, and take them to class for discussion. In order to guide your readings and film screenings, weekly study questions are indicated for each session in the syllabus. Class discussions will be based on these questions as well as the questions that arise from your readings and film screenings. Critical Essays: Two argumentative (not only analytic or persuasive) essays will be graded. In these essays, you argue in support of a certain point by analyzing primary texts from the units but are free to approach them from any disciplinary or critical perspective. Close readings are required. You’re encouraged to use secondary criticism assigned in 2 this course or outside sources. You will choose your own topics and discuss them with me during my office hours if you have difficulty. The essays should be double-spaced and typed. The first essay should be 4-5 page in length, and the second 5-7 pages. The essays are graded on the basis of 1) the strength of its arguments and critical acumen, 2) relevance to key questions raised during the course, 3) the quality of close readings in support of your arguments, and 4) the quality of English-language prose writing for academic purposes. NB: The essays are due respectively on February 12 and March 26, 2015. Please both email and bring a printout of your essays to me in class. An email version of the essays is accepted to meet the deadline, although the actual grading will commence once I receive them in hard copies. If turned in late (i.e., when the email version is not received by me prior to class time on February 12 and March 26), the essays will lose 5% of their total value. Written Test: Questions in the test are based on class discussions and study questions in relation with the materials studied during the course. The test is graded according to 1) the clarity of writing, and 2) the persuasiveness of arguments. The term test is scheduled to take place in regular class time on April 2, 2015. Requests for a make-up test will be considered ONLY upon presentation of the detailed “UofT Verification of Student Illness or Injury” form within 7 days of the missed exam. A copy of this form can be downloaded at: http://www.illnessverification.utoronto.ca. Participation: Class participation is judged by your attention and interventions during the seminar, as well as group discussions. Students may be called to answer questions. Random quizzes may be conducted to test your attentiveness to class discussions and film screenings. Participation percentage in the final grade includes your preparedness for the class and your attendance. Attendance: You are required to attend all lectures and are encouraged to attend all film screenings. Roll will be taken at all lectures. You should make every effort to inform me in advance regarding your attendances. Use of Computer/Mobile Devices: The use of laptops and other mobile devices in class is limited to viewing texts available on the Blackboard, or when asked by the instructor. Please keep all mobile devices switched off when not in use. Note-taking on laptops is discouraged. This is to help all students be focused on class discussions and lectures. Food in Class: Food may be consumed moderately in class without disturbing class discussions and distracting fellow students. Academic Integrity: This course adheres to the policies and procedures of the “Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters” (available at http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/policies.htm). Helpful hints can be found at 3 http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice. If unsure about certain procedure or policy, please consult me. Accessibility Needs: The University of Toronto is committed to accessibility. If you require accommodations, or have any accessibility concerns about this course, the classroom, or course materials, please contact Accessibility Services as soon as possible: http://studentlife.utoronto.ca/accessibility. Course Schedule Jan 5/8 Introduction Film: Lamerica (Gianni Amelio 1994) Readings: O’Healy. Percorso 1: Italian Emigration Jan 12/15 Film: Nuovomondo/Golden Door (Emanuele Crialese 2006) Readings: Rosenstone; Heyer-Caput Supplementary film: Film: Pane amaro (Gianfranco Norelli 2009), available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuEiEXxE5zI Jan 19/22 Film: La sarrasine (Paul Tana 1992) Readings: Sorlin; Marshall Jan 26/29 Film: Sacco e Vanzetti (Giuliano Montaldo 1971) Readings: Delamater and Trasciatti; Porton Feb 2/5 Film: Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese 1990) Readings: Orsitto 4 Supplementary Film: Film: Italianamerican (Martin Scorsese 1974), available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tzKAlLb4iM Percorso 2: Internal Migration in Italy Feb 9/12 Film: Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore/The Seduction of Mimi (Lina Wertmüller 1972) Readings: Bullaro Critical Essay 1 Due: Feb 12 Feb 17-20: Reading Week (No Classes Scheduled) Feb 23/26 Film: Rocco e i suoi fratelli/Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti 1960) Readings: Bacon Percorso 3: Italian Colonialism Mar 2/5 Film: Lion of the Desert (Moustapha Akkad 1981) Readings: Clò Mar 9/12 Film: Mediterraneo (Gabriele Salvatores 1990) Readings: Marcus Percorso 4: Immigration to Italy Mar 16/19 Film: Io, l’altro (Mohsen Melliti 2006) 5 Film: Terra di mezzo (Matteo Garrone 1996) Readings: Pastorino Mar 23/26 Film: Io sono Li/Shun Li and the Poet (Andrea Segre 2011) Readings: Bertozzi Critical Essay 2 Due: Mar 26 Apr 2 Term Test References Bacon, Henry. Visconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay. London: Cambridge University Press, 1998. (pp. 98-118) Bertozzi, Eddie. “The Possibility of Chineseness: Negotiating Chinese Identity in Shun Li and the Poet and The Arrival of Wang,” Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, 2:1 (2014), pp. Bullaro, Grace. Man in Disorder: The Cinema of Lina Wertmüller in the 1970s. Leicester, UK: Troubador Publishing, 2007. (pp. 1-30) Clò, Clarissa. “Mediterraneo Interrupted: Perils and Potentials of Representing Italy’s Occupations in Greece and Libya Through Film,” Italian Culture, Vol. 27, Iss. 2 (2009), pp. 99-115. Delamater, Jerome and Mary Anne Trasciatti, eds. Representing Sacco and Vanzetti. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Heyer-Caput, Margherita. “For a Cinema of inbetween-ness: Emanuele Crialese’s Nuovomondo (2006),” Italica, 90.2 (2013), pp. 272-285. Marcus, Millicent. After Fellini: National Cinema in the Postmodern Age. Baltimore; London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. (pp. 76-93) Marshall, Bill. Quebec National Cinema. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000. (pp. 263-284). O’Healy, Aine. “Lamerica,” in Giorgio Bertellini, ed. The Cinema of Italy (24 Frames). London: Wallflower Press, 2004. Orsitto, Fulvio. “Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas: Hybrid Storytelling between Realism and Formalism,” in Dana Renga, ed., Mafia Movies: A Reader (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011). Pastorino, Gloria. “Death by water? Constructing the ‘other’ in Melliti’s Io l’altro,” in Grace Russo Bullaro, ed., From Terrone to Extracomunitario: New Manifestations of Racism in Contemporary Italian Cinema. Leicester: Troubador Publishing, 2010. Porton, Richard. Film and the Anarchist Imagination. London; New York: Verso, 1999. 6 Rosenstone, Robert. ”Introduction” to Revisioning History, ed. Robert Rosenstone, New York: Princeton University Press, 1994. Sorlin, Pierre. “How to Look at an ‘Historical Film’,” in Sorlin, The Film in History, London, 1980. 7