French Studies 397C - ST- Contemporary French Cinema

Following the French New Wave, contemporary French cinema from the 1980s to the current era has revisited the country's recent historical past, in particular those periods of the Occupation and of decolonization, in addition to focusing on social issues such as the suburbs and their culture, immigration, and the French education system, in a variety of films including thrillers and comedies. This class will focus on how these topics reflect economic realities, national obsessions, behavioral conventions, and societal transformations. By the end of this course, students will be able to analyze films and their different genres as cultural products, identify the values transmitted within these works of art, and critically discuss films with the technical vocabulary of film analysis. Finally, this course taught in French will include content analysis, the development of critical thinking, and the investigation of connections with society through the study of Franco-American cultural differences.