Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2024 - HUM 350 B100

Special Topics: Great Figures in the Humanistic Tradition (4)

Fellini & Friends

Class Number: 5431

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 8 – Apr 12, 2024: Tue, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An interdisciplinary study of the life and works of an individual who has made a lasting contribution to the humanistic tradition in more than one field of endeavour (e.g. philosophy, politics, literature, economics, religion). This course may be repeated once for credit. Students with credit for this topic under another Humanities course number may not take this course for further credit. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Great Figures in the Humanistic Tradition: Fellini & Friends

In this seminar, we will study – and laugh at – the humanities on film. We will focus on the internationally celebrated film director Federico Fellini and other masters of “Italian-style” comedy (a.k.a. commedia all’italiana). At their peak of production and popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, Italian-style film comedies combined intensely mocking portrayals of Italian social life (and beyond) with socio-political critiques far more biting than those in more overtly ideological films.  

Taking Fellini’s iconic – and ironic – film La dolce vita (The Sweet Life, 1960) as our thematic foundation, we will explore cinematically Italy’s dynamic but difficult transition from Mussolini’s dictatorship, wartime defeat, and widespread poverty in 1945 to a postwar democratic republic that became one of the world’s richest industrialized countries by the early 1960s. We will read the films of Fellini and his comedic colleagues as audio-visual humanistic texts that lampooned Italians’ pursuit of the “sweet life” during the postwar boom. Through their creative and often revolutionary works, we will examine their incisive parodies of cultural attitudes, social customs, sexual behaviors, mass consumerism, internal migration, the Mafia, and the Fascist legacy during this era of rapid change and unprecedented prosperity. 

As a “blended” course, you will watch one film (out of class) each week. Films will be streamed on Canvas and subtitled in English. To situate films in their social/political contexts, supplemental readings will be assigned each week.  

No background in Italian or film studies is necessary.

Grading

  • Participation 25%
  • Portfolio 35%
  • Final Project 40%

NOTES:

This course counts toward the following Global Humanities concentrations:

Materials

RECOMMENDED READING:

Anthony Cardoza, A History of Modern Italy: Transformation and Continuity, 1796 to the Present (e-book) 

Note: If you opt not to buy the Cardoza text, alternative readings will be available on Canvas. All other readings will be available on Canvas and via the library’s e-book collection. 


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html