“I may not know much but I do know that Europeans love Americans.” This is what Peter Parker’s sidekick Ned tells him as they set off on their school trip to Europe in the new "Spider-Man: Far from Home" movie (2019). This is just one example of a common trope in US-American film: the trip to Europe. Some US-American TV series also dedicate special “vacation episodes” to certain cities in Europe (e.g. "Friends," "Parks and Recreation," or "How I Met Your Mother"). In each of these cases, a certain notion of Europe, European cities, and Europeans is constructed. These notions often times include stereotypes, myths, and romantic ideas, e.g., sexual freedom, cheap alcohol, and old castles. No matter how different the films and TV series are, each of these representations reproduces but also constructs an idea of Europe, certain parts of Europe, and the people who live there.
In the seminar, we will have a look at different representations of Europe in film and TV. With a representation-critical approach and the methodological toolkit of film analysis, global perspectives of Europe or parts of Europe and what it means to be European will be examined and analyzed. Guiding questions will be inter alia:
- How is Europe represented?
- Which filmic devices are employed to construct or support a certain notion of Europe?
- What is represented/suggested/identified as (stereo)typical European?
- Which voices are heard, which are not? What is made visible and what remains invisible?

The course is primarily geared towards international exchange students participating in the "European Studies in Global Perspectives" program, but it is also open to University of Oldenburg students.