Undergraduate Course: Childhood and Cinema (LLLG07069)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course will explore the cinematic representations of childhood in a wide range of films from across the globe. It will investigate why the figure of the child has had such a significant impact on film, both formally and thematically and how children have often been used to reflect the anxieties and aspirations of modern life. |
| Course description |
1. Family (1)
From Depression-era Japan to late-Franco Spain, we¿ll look at the representation of childhood and family in An Inn In Tokyo (Ozu), Fanny and Alexander (Bergman), Cria Cuervos (Saura)
2. Family (2)
The discussion of family continues in three more varied titles: Our Mother's House (Clayton), The Neon Bible (Davies), The White Balloon (Panahi)
3. School (1)
School life as seen by a variety of directors including Jean Vigo (Zero de conduite), Truffaut (Les 400 coups) and Lindsay Anderson (If...)
4. School (2)
A second week on school life, with examples from Italy (Fellini¿s Amarcord), Australia (Weir¿s Picnic at Hanging Rock) and the US (Linklater¿s The School of Rock)
5. Adventure (1)
We will explore the idea of childhood and adventure in Emil and the Detectives (Lamprecht), ET (Spielberg) and Moonrise Kingdom (Anderson)
6. Adventure (2)
Further discussion of childhood and adventure in films from Iran, the US and South Korea: Son of Babylon (Al-Daradji), Beasts of the Southern Wild (Zeitlin), Treeless Mountain (Kim)
7. War
We¿ll explore the reasons why filmmakers have often turned to child characters to portray the horrors of war. Titles to be discussed include Germany Year Zero (Rossellini), Ivan's Childhood (Tarkovsky) and Come and See (Klimov).
8. Love and Sexuality
Discussion of teenage romance and sexuality in Badlands (Malick), Submarine (Ayoade) and Let The Right One In (Alfredson).
9. Horror
The use of child characters in horror films such as Voyage of the Damned (Rilla), The Innocents (Clayton) and Carrie (De Palma)
10. Comedy
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Explain the development of the cinematic representation of childhood
- Discuss the approach of a range of international filmmakers toward childhood and the cinema.
- Understand the cultural and ideological factors influencing the representation of childhood.
- Engage closely with a variety of theoretical texts regarding cinema and childhood.
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Reading List
Lury, K. (2011) The Child in Film, London: IB Taurus.
Lebeau, V. (2008) Childhood and the Cinema, London: Reaktion Books.
Sinyard, N. (1992) Children in the Movies, London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Olson, D. C. and Scahill, A. (eds), (2012) Lost and Othered Children in Contemporary Cinema, Lanham: Lexington 2012
Wilson, E. (2002) Cinema¿s Missing Children, London: Wallflower Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical thinking
Close textual analysis (both of film extracts and written articles)
Participation in class discussion
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Martine Pierquin
Tel: (0131 6)51 1182
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: |
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