Institute of Caribbean Studies, The University of West Indies at Mona

AR25F: Caribbean Films & Their Fictions

Lecturer: Ms. Deborah Hickling
Tele:1-876-990-3770
E-mail: connolley@anngel.com
Pre-requisites: None
Semester: 2
Credits: 3
Level: 2

See also Course Flyer

OBJECTIVES

To introduce students to Caribbean filmic expression in seminal works from linguistic areas of the region
To develop a sensibility for a Caribbean aesthetic
To comparatively analyse the transposing of literary works of fiction to film
To understand the canonical construction invested in both film and fiction of the region

ASSESSMENT

1. One in-course essay (30%)
2. Tutorial Presentation (10%)
3. Final Examination (60%)

METHODOLOGY

Tutorials are compulsory. Where a film is to be shown, students will be required to attend the two-hour session and will be advised accordingly

COURSE CONTENT

Historical review - Caribbean film and fiction (Anglophone, Francophone, Spanish Caribbean).
What is Cultural Studies? Why is it important inn textual analysis?
Language of narrative and screen.language as cultural indicator.
Contemporary historical and social-political contexts in the Anglophone, Francophone and Spanish Caribbean - Negritude, Cuban Revolution etc.
The Caribbean Textual Aesthetic (Film/Lit).
Themes and theories common to Caribbean works - relating basic cultural theory to the texts - Postcolonial Theory, Postmodernism, Aesthetics et al.
Adaptation and novelisation
C aribbean thought on film, fiction and culture - Cesaire, Hall et al

TEXTS

Desnoes, Edmundo. Memories of Underdevelopment . Penquin, 1971.
Gutierrez Alea, Tomas (Dir). Memories of Underdevelopment. ICAC, 1968.
Henzell, Perry (Dir). The Harder They Come . International Films, 1972.
Thelwell, Michael. The Harder They Come . Pluto press, 1972.
Zobel, Joseph. Black Shack Alley . Heinemann, 1980.
Palcy, Euzzhan (Dir). Sugarcane Alley . 1983.

REQUIRED READINGS

Cham, Mybe (ed). Ex-iles, Essays on Caribbean Cinema . Trenton , Africa World Press: 1992.
Guitierrez Alea, Tomas (Dir). Memories of Underdevelopment and Inconsolable Memories. Edmundo Desnoes, author, Introduction by Michael Chanan, New Bruswick; Rutgers University Press; 1990.
Popeau, Jean Woice and Ideology in 'Memories of Underdevelopment.' University of Warwick ; Centre for Caribbean Thought; n.d.
Rohlehr, Gordon "Once in a Blue Sun; Review of 'The Harder They Come' " in Rohelehr, Gordon. My Strangled City and Other Essays . Port of Spain : Longman Trinidad; 1992: pp 95-106.
Warner, Keith. On Location . University of Warwick : 2000.