Cinema and Society Summary
CM2060
by Elvan<3
NOTE: Correct referencing is important in exams
Name of the film, Year of release, Name of the director
WEEK 1: Memory
Movie: Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman, Israel, 2008
Reading: Animated Recollection and Spectatorial Experience in Waltz with Bashir (Ohad
Landesman & Roy Bendor, 2011)
Lecture Slides
Memory:
- The power or process of remembering what has been learned
- processes that are used to acquire, store, and later retrieve information
Data, Information, Knowledge
3 major processes involved in memory
1. Encoding: our brain acquires data deemed with remembering
2. Storage: data are stored in different parts of the brain depending on their importance
3. Retrieval: our brain requests access to data stored
Stories help us make sense of the world.
Can a society have a memory?
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917):
“Societies require continuity and connection with the past to preserve social unity and cohesion”
Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945):
Student of Durkheim: coins the term “collective memory”
Collective Memory: The memory of a group of people passed from one generation to the next.
Societies need to remember who they are, and where they come from.
Creating collective memory;
- history
- traditions
- memory places (lieux de mémoire): a symbolic element of the memorial heritage of any
community
1
, ex: 9/11 memorial in NYC, Nelson’s Column in London, tomb of auschwitz victims in the
Hague
Cultural Amnesia: collective, often deliberate forgetting of something important by a group
ex: the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our memories
“If we’re under a lot of stress, sometimes it can negatively impact retrieval of information.”
One effect is “blocking”, in which information is available in memory but we can’t retrieve it when
we want to.
Tale 1: Can we restore memory?
Movie of the week: Waltz with Bashir, Israel, Ari Folman, 2008
About: Invasion of Lebanon/Peace in Galilea
- Bashir Gemayel= president of the lebanese republic from August 23 1982 to September 14
1982
- Ari Folman is an Israeli movie producer and director who told his own story in this movie
Waltz with Bashir exemplifies the ways in which the animated documentary exceeds its utility for
showing what is otherwise difficult or impossible to represent in non-animated documentaries (stream
of consciousness, unconscious elements, dreams, imaginations, affects, etc.)
Screen Memory: a recollection of early childhood that may be falsely recalled or magnified in
importance and that masks another memory of deep emotional significance (Sigmund Freud)
Elizabeth Loftus: How Elizabeth Loftus Changed The Meaning of Memory
According to Loftus, who published 24 books and 600+ papers, memories are reconstructed, not
replayed.
“Our representation of the past takes on a living, shifting reality. It is not fixed and immutable, not a
place way back there that is preserved in stone, but a living thing that changes shape, expands,
shrinks, and expands again, an amoeba-like creature.”-Elizabeth Loftus
Amoeba: a type of cell or unicellular organism which has the ability to alter its shape, primarily by
extending and retracting pseudopods
Tale 2: Should we miss the Past?
Golden Age:
- the most flourishing period in the history of a nation, literature, etc.
- a time that never truly existed, except in memories
Dutch Golden Age:
- period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch
trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world
ex: Golden carriage of the Dutch King (not used anymore since it had slavery painting on it)
English Golden Age:
2
, - The Elizabethan Era took place from 1558 to 1603 and is considered by many historians to be
the golden age in English History
Fantasy: a book, movie, etc., that tells a story about things that happen in an imaginary world
(Merriam-Webster)
ex: Harry Potter
“Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear
idea of possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an
imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” -Tremendous
Trifles by G.K Chesterton (1909)
Nostalgia: pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing
that you could experience it again (Merriam-Webster)
Persepolis, France/USA, Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi, 2007 - dress code in Iran
Tale 3: Should we glorify the Past?
Biopic: biographical movie usually centered around one historical character but focusing on the
narrative
ex: The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum, UK/USA, 2014 and House of Gucci, Ridley Scott,
USA/Canada, 2021 and Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan, USA/UK, 2023
Not all biopics are exactly accurate, at the end they are made for the screen.
Did Oppenheimer poison his Cambridge tutor’s apple?
In the fall of 1925, Oppenheimer really did inject chemicals from the school lab into
Blackett’s apple.
Was Oppenheimer one of the first people to theorize about the existence of black holes?
Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder really did publish such a paper, and that paper
really did come out the same day Hitler invaded Poland. But Oppenheimer the film makes a slightly
bigger deal of this than Oppenheimer the man did.
Did Oppenheimer try to give away his child to a friend?
The scene in Oppenheimer when Robert suggests giving away his son to his best friend,
Haakon Chevalier, is based on a real conversation, but the circumstances were different. Robert asked
Sherr if she wanted to adopt Katherine saying “I can’t love her.” and she declined.
Was Los Alamos uninhabited before the scientists moved in?
There were rural communities living in the vicinity of Los Alamos as well as the Trinity test
site. Early screenings of Oppenheimer have been met with protests meant to call attention to the harm
the U.S. government inflicted on these “downwinders,” many of whom later developed cancer as a
result of radiation exposure.
3
, -Inspired by a true story-
ex: Amadeus, Milos Forman, USA/France, 1984
Tale 4: Can we trust the Past?
Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)
- Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1950
The Rashomon Effect: the phenomenon of unreliability to eyewitnesses
Imaginative Resistance (David Hume, 1711-1776): phenomenon in which people resist engaging in
particular prompted imaginative activities as it would contradict what is considered moral
Documentary, recording the past?
Documentary: visual expression that is based on the attempt in one fashion or another to “document”
reality
ex: Nanook of the North, Robert J. Flaherty, USA, 1922
“Truest and most human story of the Great White Snows”
“A picture with more drama, greater thrill, and stronger action than any picture you ever saw”
Flaherty: “One often has to distort a thing in order to catch its true spirit.”
Neutral and objective?
Hawthorne Effect: when individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their
awareness of being observed
Mockumentary: a facetious or satirical work (as a film) presented in the style of a documentary
ex: Zelig, Woody Allen, USA, 1983 and Dark Side of the Moon, William Karel, France, 2002
Tale 5: Can we forget the Past?
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino, USA/Germany, 2009
Showing the unspeakable
Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog), Alain Resnais, France, 1955, 32’
The documentary/movie about Auschwitz
WEEK 2: Art
Movie: Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cleo from 5 to 7), Agnès Varda, France/Italy, 1962
4
CM2060
by Elvan<3
NOTE: Correct referencing is important in exams
Name of the film, Year of release, Name of the director
WEEK 1: Memory
Movie: Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman, Israel, 2008
Reading: Animated Recollection and Spectatorial Experience in Waltz with Bashir (Ohad
Landesman & Roy Bendor, 2011)
Lecture Slides
Memory:
- The power or process of remembering what has been learned
- processes that are used to acquire, store, and later retrieve information
Data, Information, Knowledge
3 major processes involved in memory
1. Encoding: our brain acquires data deemed with remembering
2. Storage: data are stored in different parts of the brain depending on their importance
3. Retrieval: our brain requests access to data stored
Stories help us make sense of the world.
Can a society have a memory?
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917):
“Societies require continuity and connection with the past to preserve social unity and cohesion”
Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945):
Student of Durkheim: coins the term “collective memory”
Collective Memory: The memory of a group of people passed from one generation to the next.
Societies need to remember who they are, and where they come from.
Creating collective memory;
- history
- traditions
- memory places (lieux de mémoire): a symbolic element of the memorial heritage of any
community
1
, ex: 9/11 memorial in NYC, Nelson’s Column in London, tomb of auschwitz victims in the
Hague
Cultural Amnesia: collective, often deliberate forgetting of something important by a group
ex: the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our memories
“If we’re under a lot of stress, sometimes it can negatively impact retrieval of information.”
One effect is “blocking”, in which information is available in memory but we can’t retrieve it when
we want to.
Tale 1: Can we restore memory?
Movie of the week: Waltz with Bashir, Israel, Ari Folman, 2008
About: Invasion of Lebanon/Peace in Galilea
- Bashir Gemayel= president of the lebanese republic from August 23 1982 to September 14
1982
- Ari Folman is an Israeli movie producer and director who told his own story in this movie
Waltz with Bashir exemplifies the ways in which the animated documentary exceeds its utility for
showing what is otherwise difficult or impossible to represent in non-animated documentaries (stream
of consciousness, unconscious elements, dreams, imaginations, affects, etc.)
Screen Memory: a recollection of early childhood that may be falsely recalled or magnified in
importance and that masks another memory of deep emotional significance (Sigmund Freud)
Elizabeth Loftus: How Elizabeth Loftus Changed The Meaning of Memory
According to Loftus, who published 24 books and 600+ papers, memories are reconstructed, not
replayed.
“Our representation of the past takes on a living, shifting reality. It is not fixed and immutable, not a
place way back there that is preserved in stone, but a living thing that changes shape, expands,
shrinks, and expands again, an amoeba-like creature.”-Elizabeth Loftus
Amoeba: a type of cell or unicellular organism which has the ability to alter its shape, primarily by
extending and retracting pseudopods
Tale 2: Should we miss the Past?
Golden Age:
- the most flourishing period in the history of a nation, literature, etc.
- a time that never truly existed, except in memories
Dutch Golden Age:
- period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch
trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world
ex: Golden carriage of the Dutch King (not used anymore since it had slavery painting on it)
English Golden Age:
2
, - The Elizabethan Era took place from 1558 to 1603 and is considered by many historians to be
the golden age in English History
Fantasy: a book, movie, etc., that tells a story about things that happen in an imaginary world
(Merriam-Webster)
ex: Harry Potter
“Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear
idea of possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an
imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” -Tremendous
Trifles by G.K Chesterton (1909)
Nostalgia: pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing
that you could experience it again (Merriam-Webster)
Persepolis, France/USA, Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi, 2007 - dress code in Iran
Tale 3: Should we glorify the Past?
Biopic: biographical movie usually centered around one historical character but focusing on the
narrative
ex: The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum, UK/USA, 2014 and House of Gucci, Ridley Scott,
USA/Canada, 2021 and Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan, USA/UK, 2023
Not all biopics are exactly accurate, at the end they are made for the screen.
Did Oppenheimer poison his Cambridge tutor’s apple?
In the fall of 1925, Oppenheimer really did inject chemicals from the school lab into
Blackett’s apple.
Was Oppenheimer one of the first people to theorize about the existence of black holes?
Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder really did publish such a paper, and that paper
really did come out the same day Hitler invaded Poland. But Oppenheimer the film makes a slightly
bigger deal of this than Oppenheimer the man did.
Did Oppenheimer try to give away his child to a friend?
The scene in Oppenheimer when Robert suggests giving away his son to his best friend,
Haakon Chevalier, is based on a real conversation, but the circumstances were different. Robert asked
Sherr if she wanted to adopt Katherine saying “I can’t love her.” and she declined.
Was Los Alamos uninhabited before the scientists moved in?
There were rural communities living in the vicinity of Los Alamos as well as the Trinity test
site. Early screenings of Oppenheimer have been met with protests meant to call attention to the harm
the U.S. government inflicted on these “downwinders,” many of whom later developed cancer as a
result of radiation exposure.
3
, -Inspired by a true story-
ex: Amadeus, Milos Forman, USA/France, 1984
Tale 4: Can we trust the Past?
Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)
- Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1950
The Rashomon Effect: the phenomenon of unreliability to eyewitnesses
Imaginative Resistance (David Hume, 1711-1776): phenomenon in which people resist engaging in
particular prompted imaginative activities as it would contradict what is considered moral
Documentary, recording the past?
Documentary: visual expression that is based on the attempt in one fashion or another to “document”
reality
ex: Nanook of the North, Robert J. Flaherty, USA, 1922
“Truest and most human story of the Great White Snows”
“A picture with more drama, greater thrill, and stronger action than any picture you ever saw”
Flaherty: “One often has to distort a thing in order to catch its true spirit.”
Neutral and objective?
Hawthorne Effect: when individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their
awareness of being observed
Mockumentary: a facetious or satirical work (as a film) presented in the style of a documentary
ex: Zelig, Woody Allen, USA, 1983 and Dark Side of the Moon, William Karel, France, 2002
Tale 5: Can we forget the Past?
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino, USA/Germany, 2009
Showing the unspeakable
Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog), Alain Resnais, France, 1955, 32’
The documentary/movie about Auschwitz
WEEK 2: Art
Movie: Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cleo from 5 to 7), Agnès Varda, France/Italy, 1962
4
