Outline

Overview

From the nostalgia film to the Holocaust documentary, cinema is implicated in complex processes of forgetting and remembering. This unit introduces students to thinking about how film represents memory formally and narratively, and its thematic, cultural and ethical implications. It traces film's relation to nostalgia and history, while approaching cinema more broadly as an archive of memory, especially of those ephemeral or affective experiences not often thought of as historical.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Film Studies
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in Film Studies
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	ARHT2053 or ARHT2653
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Matilda Mroz, matilda.mroz@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 2 September 2024

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Essay Topic chosen from set questions. Refer to Assessment Summary and Canvas.	50%	Formal exam period Due date: 11 Nov 2024 at 23:59	2800 words
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Participation Class participation. Refer to Assessment Summary for details.	10%	Ongoing	Throughout semester.
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Film Analysis Analysis of a ten-minute sequence. Refer to Assessment Summary and Canvas.	40%	Week 07 Due date: 09 Sep 2024 at 23:59	1700 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

1/ Film Analysis

Weighting: 40%

Wordcount: 1700 words (includes 4 images)

Instructions

Select ONE of the following films. The sequence for analysis is chosen by the Unit Coordinator and will be made available on the Canvas site.

Inside Out (Pete Docter, USA, 2015)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)

Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, USA, 1991)

The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, USA, 1999)

Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alan Resnais, France/Japan, 1959)

Analyse and interpret the film’s representation of memory and/or haunting by attending closely to its formal and narrative elements. Consider what strategies of representation are employed in your selected sequence, and their effects in terms of theme and form/aesthetics. Make sure to move between close description and analysis of salient elements in your selected sequence (drawing on technical terms as necessary), and your larger argument about the film’s representational project. While you should be closely focused on your selected sequence, you must demonstrate an understanding of the film as a whole, and situate your analytical claims in relation to the entire film. Avoid plot summary, character-centred accounts, description not linked to analysis, and timecode references.

You are required to include 4 stills/screenshots from the selected film sequence to further bolster your analysis. Templates for how to arrange your images and text will be provided on Canvas.

You must cite 2-3 scholarly texts from the recommended and/or required reading on this unit. However, keep in mind that this assessment is not a research essay. You will be drawing on the knowledge and capacity that you’ve developed in the unit so far for analysing and interpreting your sequence and film. It is an exercise in writing in your own voice, while focused on analysis and argument. Make sure the citations that you use are not overshadowing your own critical voice.

For referencing guidance, see the Library’s Referencing and Citation Styles Guide: http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/citation?hs=a

Restrictions

You will not be able to write your final Essay on the film that you choose for this assessment task.

Marking Criteria

ANALYSIS: Offers a coherent and persuasive analysis and interpretation of the selected film sequence, showing an in-depth understanding of the sequence and the film as a whole. Avoids generalisation, superficiality, and extraneous/irrelevant material.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL: Demonstrates an attention to detail in analysing the sequence, including elements of film form and aesthetic, using film studies terminology. Ties this analysis closely to the ideas presented in the work, avoiding basic description and reiteration of plot points.

SCHOLARSHIP: Engages with 2-3 pieces of relevant scholarship on the unit, demonstrating an understanding of the relationship this scholarship has to the sequence/film under discussion. Demonstrates a critical engagement with the issues and concepts studied in the first half of the unit. Engages with the details of the readings, rather than relying on generalised summaries.

USE OF IMAGES: Demonstrates good judgement and originality in the choice of images and uses the images to further the analysis, rather than simply as illustrative material.

PRESENTATION: Maintains a high level of presentation, including: clear prose, spelling, grammar, punctuation, proper referencing, formatting, arrangement/ordering of images, sticking to word counts +/-10%.

2/ Essay

Weighting: 50%

Wordcount: 2800 words (includes 3 images)

Instructions

Select two films on the unit’s ‘required’ or ‘recommended’ viewing list and discuss them in relation to one essay question. Essay questions will be posted on Canvas. Any of the ‘required’ or ‘recommended’ films can be combined and used to answer any of the questions, so long as you can make a case for the relevance of the quotation/question to the films. Your essay should formulate an overarching argument. You should make reference to the key elements of the quotation/question. Compare and contrast your chosen films. Try to be creative and original.

You are required to include 2-3 stills/screenshots from the films you are discussing to further bolster your analysis. Templates for how to arrange your images and text will be provided on Canvas.

This is a research assignment, so make sure you utilise the required and recommended reading/viewing for the unit. You should also conduct your own research, using academic sources (books, book chapters, journal articles). It is expected that, at minimum, 5 academic sources will be utilised.

For referencing guidance, see the Library’s Referencing and Citation Styles Guide: http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/citation?hs=a

Restrictions

You must not write on the film that you analysed for the Film Analysis assignment. You may write on the same film, topic or reading that you presented on in class (indeed, this is encouraged so that you can build on your knowledge and discussions from class).

Marking Criteria

UNDERSTANDING: Demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the chosen topic. The essay should also gesture towards a broader understanding of how cinema engages with haunting and/or memory.

ARGUMENTATION: Demonstrates a coherent framework or argument for the essay and a focused examination of the topic, addressing each relevant point in the question/quote. Avoids generalisation, superficiality, and extraneous/irrelevant material.

RESEARCH: Engages in-depth with relevant written texts on the unit, and relevant research sourced independently. The appropriateness, range, detail and accuracy of citations and references will be taken into account. The essay should be able to show how the student is getting to the heart of the arguments presented in the reading, rather than relying on generalised summaries.

FILM ANALYSIS: Demonstrates an attention to detail in analysing film form; ties analysis closely to ideas/arguments and/or academic scholarship; uses appropriate film studies terminology.

USE OF IMAGES: Demonstrates good judgement in the choice of images used for the essay, and uses the images to further ideas/arguments rather than simply as illustrative material.

ORIGINALITY: Creativity, innovation and originality will be particularly valued. The essay should show how students can move beyond simply reiterating material that they have been taught, and thinking critically and independently about their topic. Originality might be shown in how scholarship is being used, or through original film analysis that moves beyond tutorial/lecture discussions, or via relevant, high-level independent research, and/or in the argumentation and the presentation of ideas.

STRUCTURE AND PRESENTATION: Maintains a high level of presentation, including: clear prose, spelling, grammar, punctuation, proper referencing, formatting, arrangement/ordering of images, sticking to word counts +/-10%. The structure and writing in the essay should be clear and logical.

3/ Participation

Weighting: 10%

Active participation in tutorials is an important part of learning in this unit. Tutorials are designed to be a welcoming, supportive and open space for exploring the critical issues that arise in the unit. Tutorial participation includes demonstrated preparation for tutorial discussions (watching films, attending lectures, doing the reading), as well as the forms of conduct, leadership, reasoning and listening outlined in the rubric which can be found on Canvas. Each student is required to lead discussion on one of the tutorial topics listed on Canvas. Students will choose their discussion topics at the beginning of semester.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy, Schedule 1.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Work of an exceptional standard
Distinction	75 - 84	Work of a very high standard
Credit	65 - 74	Work of a good standard
Pass	50 - 64	Work of an acceptable standard
Fail	0 - 49	Work that does not meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy 2023 reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy 2023. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Film and/as Memory: An Introduction, with Inside Out	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 02	Film and/as Memory: An Introduction, with Inside Out	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 02	The Remembered Film I: Colonial Landscapes and Picnic at Hanging Rock	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 03	The Remembered Film I: Colonial Landscapes and Picnic at Hanging Rock	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 03	The Remembered Film II: Migrating Sense Memory, Daughters of the Dust and Lemonade	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 04	The Remembered Film II: Migrating Sense Memory, Daughters of the Dust and Lemonade	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 04	Nostalgia, Liminality and the Cliché: The Virgin Suicides	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 05	Nostalgia, Liminality and the Cliché: The Virgin Suicides	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 05	Trauma and Flashbacks: Hiroshima mon Amour	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 06	Trauma and Flashbacks: Hiroshima mon Amour	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 06	Country and Memory: In My Blood it Runs	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 07	Country and Memory: In My Blood it Runs	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 07	Why do the Dead Return?: Atlantics	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 08	Why do the Dead Return?: Atlantics	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 08	Home Movies and Hauntology: Aftersun	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 09	Home Movies and Hauntology: Aftersun	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 09	Signs and Omens: Throne of Blood	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 10	Signs and Omens: Throne of Blood	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 10	The Haunted House and the Birth of a Nation: The Shining	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 11	The Haunted House and the Birth of a Nation: The Shining	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 11	Repressed Memory and the Monstrous: The Babadook	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 12	Repressed Memory and the Monstrous: The Babadook	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 12	Memory and the Multiverse: Everything Everywhere All At Once	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 13	Memory and the Multiverse: Everything Everywhere All At Once	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 13	Essay Guidance	Lecture (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance

According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold. If a unit of study has a participation mark, your attendance may influence this mark. For more information on attendance, see https://sydney.edu.au/handbooks/arts/rules/faculty_resolutions_arts.shtml.

Class Requirements

All lectures for this unit will be in-person. They will be made available as recordings only for students who have timetable clashes. All tutorials will be conducted in-person.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Topic 1. Film and/as Memory: An Introduction, with Inside Out

Required Viewing: Inside Out (Pete Docter, USA, 2015)

Required Reading: Radstone, Susannah. “Cinema and memory”. In Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates, ed. by S. Radstone and B. Schwarz. Fordham University Press, 2010.

Moss-Wellington, Wyatt. “Picturing the Autobiographical Imagination: Emotion, Memory and Metacognition in Inside Out.” Film-Philosophy, 25 (2), 2021.

Topic 2. The Remembered Film I: Colonial Landscapes and Picnic at Hanging Rock

Required Viewing: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)

Required Reading: Burgin, Victor. The Remembered Film. Reaktion, 2004. [extracts]

Backman Rogers, Anna. Picnic at Hanging Rock. Bloomsbury, 2022. [extracts]

Topic 3. The Remembered Film II: Migrating Sense Memory, Daughters of the Dust and Lemonade

Required Viewing: Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, USA, 1991).

Lemonade (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, USA, 2016).

Required Reading: Ebron, Paulla A. “Site Of Memory 1: A Film Revival.” In Transnational Memory: Circulation, Articulation, Scales, ed. by De Cesari, Chiara, and Ann Rigney. De Gruyter, 2014.

Rogers, Jamie Ann. “Diasporic Communion and Textual Exchange in Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust.” Black Camera, 11 (2), 2020.

Marks, Laura. The Skin of the Film. Duke University Press, 2000. [extracts]

Topic 4. Nostalgia, Liminality and the Cliché: The Virgin Suicides

Required Viewing: The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, USA, 1999)

Required Reading: Backman Rogers, Anna. Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure. Berghahn, 2018. [extracts]

Backman Rogers, Anna. American Independent Cinema: Rites of Passage and the Crisis Image. Edinburgh University Press, 2015. [extracts]

Topic 5. Trauma and Flashbacks: Hiroshima mon Amour

Required Viewing: Hiroshima mon Amour (Alain Resnais, France, 1959).

Required Reading: Turim, Maureen. “Definition and Theory of the Flashback.” In Flashbacks in Film: Memory and History. Routledge, 1989.

Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, History. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. [extracts]

Topic 6. Country and Memory: In My Blood it Runs

Required Viewing: In My Blood It Runs (Maya Newell, Australia, 2019).

Required Reading: Roberts, Meg. “Cultural healing: Rethinking education in Maya Newell’s In My Blood It Runs ”. Metro, 2021.

Yunkaporta, Tyson. Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World. Text Publishing, 2019. [extracts]

Topic 7. Why do the Dead Return? Atlantics

Required Viewing: Atlantics (Mati Diop, France/Senegal/Belgium, 2019).

Required Reading: Kara Keeling, “Preface: Another Litany for Survival”, from Queer Times, Black Futures. New York University Press, 2019.

Davis, Colin, Haunted Subjects: Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis and the Return of the Dead. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. [extracts]

Gordon, Avery. “Introduction” in Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination. University of Minnesota Press, 2008.

Topic 8. Home Movies and Hauntology: Aftersun

Required Viewing: Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, UK, 2022)

Required Reading: van Dijck, José. “Future Memories: The Construction of Cinematic Hindsight”, Theory, Culture & Society, 25 (3), 2007, 71-87.

Rahimi, Sadeq. “Chapter 2: Meaning, Language and Subjectivity” in The Hauntology of Everyday Life. Palgrave Pivot, 2021. 9-18. [specifically pages 15-16 under the subheading “Nachträglichkeit”]

Topic 9. Signs and Omens: Throne of Blood

Required Viewing: Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1957)

Required Reading: Ryle, Simon. “Moles, spots, stains and tincts: marks of futurity in Shakespeare and Kurosawa.” Textual Practice, 28 (5), 2014.

Topic 10. The Haunted House and the Birth of a Nation: The Shining

Required Viewing: The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, UK/USA, 1980)

Required Reading: Konzett, Delia Malia. “Kubrick’s Red Room: Architecture, Race and Nationhood in The Shining.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 41 (2), 2024.

Trigg, Dylan. “Archaeologies of Hauntings: Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis”. In The Shining: Studies in the Horror Film, ed. D. Olson. Centipede Press, 2015.

Topic 11. Repressed Memory and the Monstrous: The Babadook

Required Viewing: The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, Australia, 2014).

Required Reading: Paul Mitchell, “The Horror of Loss: Reading Jennifer Kent's The Babadook as a Trauma Narrative.” Atlantis English Studies, 41 (2), 2019.

Topic 12. Memory and the Multiverse: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Required Viewing: Everything Everywhere All At Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, USA, 2022)

Required Reading: Lee, A.W. “Melancholy Across the Multiverse: The Everything Bagel and the Loss of Self in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)”. In The Poetics of Grief and Melancholy in East-West Conflicts and Reconciliations, ed. Garfield Lau, C.S., Chan, K.K.Y. Springer, 2024.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. demonstrate an advanced understanding of different concepts of memory and haunting, and their application to the study of film in terms of representation, spectatorship, and reception;
LO2. analyse the representation of memory and spectrality across a range of genres and national cinemas;
LO3. critically reflect on the relation of cinema to various forms of memory, processes of memorialization, historical discourse, theories of haunting, and theorisations of the archive;
LO4. draw on the concepts and issues explored in the unit, as well as further independent research, to construct arguments and perspectives on cinema, the spectral, memory, and history.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

The reading and viewing list for this unit has been revised since the unit was last offered.

Additional information

Additional costs

Students may be required to rent or purchase films for this unit. This is due to copyright restrictions.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Additional costs

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

FILM2001: Haunted Screens: Film and Memory

Semester 2, 2024 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Additional costs

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect