Professor:

Villanova University HIS 3995-100: Film and European History Spring 2001, M 6:10-8:50pm, Old Falvey IMS4

Professor: Office: Office hours: Phone: E-mail: Web page:	Paul Steege SAC 428 M 3:30-4:30pm; F 10-11am; or by appointment 9-6963 paul.steege@villanova.edu http://www.homepage.villanova.edu/paul.steege/

Course Objectives:	This is not a film class. It is not even really a course about film. Rather, it is a course about 20^th century Europe that seeks to use film as one way to raise provocative questions about this tumultuous, violent, and unsettling period of modern history. Beginning with the run-up to the First World War, we will explore how 20^th century Europe was decidedly modern and how Europe and Europeans have tried to come to grips with this (modern) history. Particularly, we will focus on the relationship between modernity and mass phenomena: mass production, mass consumption, and mass violence. How can or should the individual function in a mass society? To what extent to individuals shape the modern world. In this course, students will be expected to challenge sources vigorously, assess arguments critically, and formulate probing questions about 20^th century Europe. I do not expect you to arrive at definitive conclusions but hope that, in the end, this course will challenge any sense that history is an inexorable process moving inevitably toward a single outcome.

Required Books:	Bauman, Zygmunt. Modernity and the Holocaust. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993. (B) Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring: the Great War and the birth of the modern age. Boston and New York: Mariner Books, 2000. (E) Kundera, Milan. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Trans. Aaron Asher. New York: Perennial Classics, 1999. (K) Pells, Richard. Not like us: how Europeans have loved, hated, and transformed American culture since World War II. New York: Basic Books, 1997. (P) Ross, Kristin. Fast cars, clean bodies: decolonization and the reordering of French culture. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press, 1999. (R)

Optional Book:	Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe’s twentieth century. New York: Vintage Books, 2000. (M) Books are available for purchase in the Villanova University Shop. Where possible, they have also been place on reserve in Falvey Library. In the reading schedule, each text is indicated by a single letter as noted above.

Course Organization:	The course meets only one time a week. Each class period will consist of a brief introductory lecture, the viewing of a film, and intense class discussion on the basis of both readings and the film. In order for this to work, you MUST come to class prepared.

	Each week, I will post some additional questions/comments on the course discussion site on the web: <news://discussions.villanova.edu/villanova.courses.spr01.his.3995-100>. Students may also post their queries or insights as well. You are not obligated to participate, but this venue offers an additional setting for class participation and the opportunity to address issues that may fall by the wayside in our single weekly class session. Most films are available on video in Falvey Library. I encourage you to view them again outside of class.

Assignments and Grading:	Take-home midterm (4-5 typed pages), due at the beginning of class on Monday, February 26. The midterm asks you to integrate the films, readings, and discussions into a coherent and well-reasoned essay. You will choose to answer one question from two that will be distributed in class one week before the due date. Take-home final (8-10 typed pages), due at 5pm on Wednesday May 9. The final will have the same format as the midterm but ask you to answer two of three questions distributed during the last class session. Note: I will adhere rigorously to these deadlines. Exams submitted after the deadline will receive a failing grade. Should some emergency require an extension, you must contact me before the scheduled due date. Six (6) reading analyses (1-2 typed pages) of one of the week’s assigned readings; due at the beginning of the class period for which the reading has been assigned. These papers are designed to serve two purposes: 1) to heighten the intensity with which you read the texts; and 2) to provide a solid basis for classroom discussion of the texts. You may submit up to eight (8), and I will drop the two lowest scores. I am not looking for you to summarize the text but to analyze the argument the author makes in the text. You don’t have much space, so be succinct and direct. It will likely be helpful to focus on one particular argument/section from the readings. Late papers will be accepted only if you contact me prior to the class period in question. See the course web site for additional guidelines. Class Participation: Regular and vigorous participation is expected of all students. Participation does not mean having the answer. Instead, it generally means raising challenging, provocative, and difficult questions. Class participation is not conceived (primarily) to demonstrate what you know but rather to promote a collective struggle with what we don’t know. Class attendance will be figured into the participation grade.

	Final Grade:	Take-home midterm exam Take-home final exam 6 Reading analyses Class Participation	20% 40 30 (5% each) 10
		TOTAL	100%

Academic Integrity:	Plagiarism or cheating on any coursework will not be tolerated. Any case of academic fraud (copying of another student’s work, unauthorized collaboration, etc.) will automatically result in a failing grade for the course.

Class/Reading Schedule
Read the assignments prior to the class for which they are scheduled. Texts marked "Reading" are required. Texts marked "Background" are optional but can provide you with additional information related to that week’s subject. BRING YOUR BOOK TO CLASS!

Jan. 15	Entering the modern world Film: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Germany, 1919) Reading: (M) pp. ix-xv [on reserve in Falvey Library]

Jan. 22	The transforming power of war and revolution Film: Battleship Potemkin (USSR, 1925) Reading: (E) pp. 9-94, 141-69 Background: (M) pp. 3-75

Jan. 29	A culture of daring or a culture of decadence? Film: The Blue Angel (Germany, 1930) Reading: (E) pp. 241-331; (P) pp. 1-36 Background: (M) pp. 76-137

Feb. 5	A dark vision of the future: a Nazi aesthetics Film: Hitler Youth Quex (Germany, 1933) Reading: (B) pp. vii-82 Background: (M)pp. 138-82

Feb. 12	The legacy of destruction Film: Ashes and Diamonds (Poland, 1958) Reading: Heinrich Böll, "Stranger, bear word to the Spartans, we ..." [electronic reserve]; (B) pp. 83-116

Feb. 19	Searching for a moral path in a devastated world Film: The Third Man (England, 1948) Reading: (B) pp. 169-207 Background: (M) pp. 183-211

Feb. 26	The ambiguous project of reconstruction Film: The Marriage of Maria Braun (Germany, 1978) MIDTERM DUE, beginning of class

Mar. 5	No Class – Spring Break

Mar. 12	A new vision of destruction: Fighting the Cold War Film: Dr. Strangelove: Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (England, 1964) Reading: (P) pp. 37-93

Mar. 19	Fear and loneliness: the colonization of everyday life Film: Breathless (France, 1960) Reading: (R) pp. 1-70

Apr. 2	A project of cultural imperialism? Confronting the randomness of modern life Film: Red (France, 1994) Reading: (P) pp. 188-203, 235-77 Background: (P) pp. 204-34; (M) pp. 286-326

Apr. 9	Identity and otherness Film: Prisoner of the Mountains (Russia, 1996) Reading: (R) pp. 157-96

Apr. 23	The past, remembering, and the violence of respectability Film: The Celebration (Denmark, 1998) Reading: (K) entire book Background: (M) pp. 327-60

Apr. 30	Historical contingency in a (post)modern world Film: Run Lola Run (Germany, 1999) Reading: (P) pp. 278-334, (M) pp. 395-403 [electronic reserve] Background: (M) pp. 361-94 [on reserve in Falvey Library]

Wed., May 9	Final Exam Due in my box in the History Department (SAC 403)