Seminar: 3.02.140 S Communicating Science - Engaging (with) Nature: Film & Television Documentaries and the Environment - Details

Seminar: 3.02.140 S Communicating Science - Engaging (with) Nature: Film & Television Documentaries and the Environment - Details

General information

Course name Seminar: 3.02.140 S Communicating Science - Engaging (with) Nature: Film & Television Documentaries and the Environment
Subtitle
Course number 3.02.140
Semester WiSe22/23
Current number of participants 36
expected number of participants 40
Home institute Institute of English and American Studies
Courses type Seminar in category Teaching
First date Tuesday, 18.10.22, 10:15 - 11:45 o'clock A01 0-009
Type/Form
Lehrsprache englisch
ECTS points 6

Rooms and times

A01 0-009

  • Tuesday, 10:15 - 11:45, Weekly (from 18.10.22)

Module assignments

Comment/Description

Some of the earliest documentary films, such as In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914) and Nanook of the North (1922), explore the relationship between human beings and their natural environments. Both Head Hunters and Nanook are also (pseudo-)scientific films, (purported) ethnographic studies of "primitive" peoples. As such, they demonstrate the close interconnection between science and motion pictures--indeed, motion pictures became important tools of scientific observation and inquiry practically as soon as they were discovered.

In this seminar, we will explore ways in which documentary films frame (scientific) knowledge about nature, the environment, and humankind's varied relationships and entanglements with the natural world. In so doing, we will soon discover that films that seem to center on nature often say more about humans than the natural world they purport to represent.


Films likely to be discussed (selection):
Nanook of the North (1922)
The Living Desert (1953)
The Vanishing Prairie (1954)
Life on Earth (1979)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009)
Life (2009)
Racing Extinction (2015)
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2017)

Admission settings

The course is part of admission "Anmeldung gesperrt (global)".
Erzeugt durch den Stud.IP-Support
The following rules apply for the admission:
  • Admission locked.