Advanced topics in hispanic literature and film: the films of luis buñuel
Bachelor's degree
In Maynard (USA)
Description
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Type
Bachelor's degree
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Location
Maynard (USA)
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Start date
Different dates available
This course considers films spanning the entire career of pioneering Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel (1900–1983), from his silent surrealist classic of 1929, Un perro andaluz, to his last film, Ese oscuro objeto del deseo (1977). We pay special attention to his Mexican period, in exile, and the films he made in, and about, Spain, including his work in documentary. It explores Buñuel's early friendship with painter Salvador Dalí and poet Federico García Lorca, surrealist aesthetics, the influence of Freud's ideas on dreams and sexuality, and the director's corrosive criticism of bourgeois society and the Catholic church. We will focus on historical contexts and relevant film criticism.
Facilities
Location
Start date
Start date
Reviews
Subjects
- Aesthetics
- Materials
- Painter
Course programme
Seminars: 2 sessions / week, 2 hours / session
The prerequisite for this course is one intermediate Spanish subject. Usually the readings for the class were in both Spanish and English, but student writing and class discussions were exclusively in Spanish.
1999 Syllabus (PDF)
2001 Syllabus (PDF)
2006 Syllabus (PDF)
2007 Syllabus (PDF)
2009 Syllabus (PDF)
2011 Syllabus (PDF)
2013 Syllabus (PDF)
Students view one feature-length, or at most, one feature-length and one short film per week by Spanish film director Luis Buñuel, that is, 13 out of Buñuel's total production of 32 films. The course includes roughly two and a half hours per week of discussion about the films and related web materials and printed texts, including film criticism and the director's autobiography Mi último suspiro. The subject considers films spanning Buñuel's entire career, from his earliest silent surrealist classic of 1929 to his last film,Cet Obscur object du désir (Ese oscuro objeto del deseo, 1977), although it pays special attention to his Mexican period and the three films he made in Spain.
The subject also explores Buñuel's early friendship with painter Salvador Dalí and poet Federico García Lorca, surrealist aesthetics, the influence in his films of Freud's ideas on dreams and sexuality, his corrosive criticism of bourgeois society and the Catholic church, and allusions to European painting (i.e. Dalí, Vermeer, Ribera, Millet) in his cinematic images. Historical contextualization will be provided for each film discussed.
Buñuel, Luis. Mi último suspiro. Debolsillo, 2012. ISBN: 9788499894447.
Evans, Peter. The Films of Luis Buñuel: Subjectivity and Desire. Clarendon Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780198159063.
Edwards, Gwynne. The Discreet Art of Luis Buñuel: A Reading of His Films. Marion Boyars, 2000. ISBN: 9780714528328.
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Advanced topics in hispanic literature and film: the films of luis buñuel