Israeli Film Syllabus

Zerubavel, Israeli Society Though Film Course info Professor Zerubavel’s info Jewish Studies 01:563:393:01 Email: [email protected] Cinema Studies 01:175:377 Tel (messages): 732-932-2033 Comparative Literature: Office hours: TBA, Bildner Center, 1st fl Mondays 2:50pm-5:50pm Bildner Center, 12 College Ave, room 107 Whereas early Israeli films focused on the nation-building effort, Israeli cinema has become increasingly diverse, critical, and multicultural in its orientation. Given this dramatic development, films provide a fascinating window to explore some key developments in Israeli life while exploring the development of Israeli cinema and the significance of film as a distinct art form. The films and the readings introduce questions that are a key to understanding major social, political, and cultural issues which the course explores: How did a society of immigrant Jews from numerous countries evolve into an “Israeli” society before the foundations of the state in 1948? What was the experience of growing up in Israel of the 1950s? What was the impact of the Holocaust on the young Israeli society and how has it changed overtime? What was the unique communal life and children-rearing method of the kibbutz and how has the kibbutz been transformed in recent decades? What is the impact of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict on Israeli life and on Jewish-Arab relations within and outside of Israel? How is the diversity of Jewish religious life depicted in film? How are Israeli gender and queer identities constructed and portrayed in various settings? Students will view films and write responses to them and prepare the readings assignments as part of their own going work in advance of each class. We will view additional films in class and explore through the films, the readings and class discussions the answers to these questions. Through the weekly responses, class discussions and essay-based exams, students will learn to approach the films critically and to improve their writing as well as expand their knowledge of both the study of film and of Israeli society. Learning Goals • Provide necessary tools to critically view films • Contextualize films in the broader framework of Israeli history • Improve analytical thinking through writing brief film reviews and class discussions • Learn to develop a writing project in timely fashion • Produce a well-written paper based on analysis of films and readings Class requirements • Attendance Attendance in class is required and class participation is a vital part of the course. More than one unexcused absence will lower the students’ grades. More than two absences will not be accepted. If students miss a class, it is their responsibility to get notes from a classmate. Students should therefore make sure to exchange email contact information with others at the start of the semester for this purpose. • Film viewing and weekly responses Students will view films at the Media Center located at the Mabel Smith Douglas Library (for further info see http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/media/media_center.shtml) and write a brief, one-page response to the film that address key points that the film addresses and an independent, personal assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. The responses must be submitted in the students’ drop box at the sakai website in advance of the class and no later than 8:00pm on the day prior to the class meeting. Students are therefore encouraged to schedule the viewing and submit the response a few days in advance to avoid last-minute and technical problems. Responses will not be not be counted toward the grade if submitted later. • Readings and class participation All readings for the class will be available on the sakai website. Preparing the reading assignments along with viewing the films prior to the class for which they are assigned is necessary for one’s participation in class discussion, and is an important part of this course. • Mid-term and Final Exams In addition to the one-page weekly responses, students will have a mid-term exam and a final exam which will consist of essay writing that will draw on the films, the assigned readings, and class discussions. The exams will be evaluated on the basis of students’ demonstration of their familiarity with the texts and the issues covered throughout the course and their ability to integrate them in an independent and thoughtful way and in a clear and concise manner. Grading . Attendance – 10% . Viewing films and submitting weekly one-page responses –25% . Reading assignments and class participation – 20% . Midterm exam – 20% . Final exam – 25% Academic Integrity Students are required to follow current Academic Integrity Policy as indicated in the website: http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml. Violations include cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, denying others access to information or material, and facilitating violations of academic integrity. For further information on how to avoid plagiarism in your work, see http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtml and take a 20 min. interactive- tutorial on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity at http://sccweb.scc- net.rutgers.edu/douglass/sal/plagiarism/Intro.html Israeli Society Through Film Weekly Course Schedule Week 1 -- Introduction Review of course goals, themes, and assignments Overview of Israeli history and discussion of the history of Israeli film Film: He Walked Through the Fields (Milo, 1968) Week 2 -- Childhood in the Shadow of War: The Holocaust and 1948 Films Aviya’s Summr (Eli Cohen, 1988) – view prior to class and write a film response The Wooden Gun (Moshenzon, 1979) – in class Gertz, Nurith, “From Jew to Hebrew: The ‘Zionist Narrative’ in the Israeli Cinema of the 1940s and 1950s,” in Efraim Karsh and Dan Urian, eds., In Search of Identity: Jewish Aspects in Israeli Culture. London: Frank Cass, 1999, 175-99 Stier-Livny, Liat, “Near and Far: The Representation of Holocaust Survivors in Israeli Feature Films,” in Miri Talmon and Yaron Peleg, eds. Israeli Cinema: Identities in Motion. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011, 168-80 Week 3 – Immigrants: Life on the Margins of Society Film: Sallah (Efraim Kishon, 1964) - view prior to class and write a film response Shohat, Ella, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989, 115-55 Recommended Reading Smooha, Sammy, Israel: Pluralism and Conflict. University of California Press, 1978, 48-65, 90-95 Week 4 -- Recent Immigrants within a Multicultural Environment Films Love and Dance (Eitan Anner, 2006) -- view prior to class and write a film response Turn Left at the End of the World (Avi Nesher, 2004) – in class Gutwein, Daniel, “From Melting Pot to Multiculturalism, or the Privatization of Israeli Identity,” in Anita Shapira, ed. Israeli Identity in Transition. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004, 215-31. Gershenson, Olga, “Immigrant Cinema: Russian Israelis on Screens and Behind the Cameras,” in Miri Talmon and Yaron Peleg, eds., Israeli Cinema: Identities in Motion. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011, 134-48 Recommended Reading Leshem, Elazar and Moshe Sicron, “Soviet Immigrant Community in Israel,” in Uzi Rbhun and Chaim I. Waxman, eds., Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns. Waltham, Mass: Brandeis University Press, 2004, 81-117 Week 5 -- Crossing Boundaries: Jews and Arabs Films The Band’s Visit (Eran Korilin, 2008) -- view prior to class and write a film response Trumpet in the Wadi (Lina Chaplin, Slava Chaplin, 2002) – in class Amara, Muhammad and Itzhak Schnell, “Identity repertoires among Arabs in Israel,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30, 1 (2004): 175-93 Week 6 -- Women on the Periphery Films Siege (Gilberto Toffano, 1969) – view prior to class and write a film response Broken Wings (Nir Bergman, 2002) – in class Zanger, Anat, “Filming National Identity: War and Woman in Israeli Cinema,” in Edna Lomsky- Feder and Eyal Ben-Ari, eds., The Military and Militarism in Israeli Society. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999, 261–79 Lubin, Orly, “The Woman as Other in Israeli Cinema,” in Esther Fuchs, ed. Israeli Women’s Studies: A Reader, New Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 2005, 301–316 Recommended Reading Zerubavel, Yael, “Coping with the Legacy of Death: The War Widow in Israeli Films,” in Miri Talmon and Yaron Peleg, eds., Israeli Cinema: Identities in Motion. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011, 84- 95 Week 7 -- Youth Protest and Politics Films Late Summer Blues (Renen Schorr, 1987) -- view prior to class and write a film review Time of Favor (Joseph Cedar, 2000) – in class Talmon, Miri, "Paradigms of Youth and Collective Identity in Israeli Popular Culture," in S. Ralph & als., eds., Youth and the Global Media. Luton: University of Luton Press, 1999, 219-28. Heilbronner, Oded, "Resistance Through Rituals: Urban Subcultures of Israeli Youth from the Late 1950s to the 1980s," Israel Studies 16, 3 (2011): 28-50 • Midterm essay topic given in class Week 8 -- The Kibbutz: Old Visions, New realities • Midterm exam is due; no viewing assignment for this week Films Children of the Sun; documentary (Ran Tal, 2007) Segments in class Galilee Eskimos (Jonathan Paz, 2007) – Segments in class Kedem, Eldad, “Kibbutz Films in Transition: From Morality to Ethics,” in Miri Talmon and Yaron Peleg, eds., Israeli Cinema: Identities in Motion. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011, 326-39 Recommended Readings Ben-Rafael, Eliezer and Menachem Topel, “The Kibbutz’s Transformation: Who Leads It and Where?” in Uzi Rebhun and Chaim I. Waxsman, eds., Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns. Waltham, Mass: Brandeis University Press, 2004, 151-73 [xerox] Week 9 -- Israelis, Germans, and Postmemory of the Holocaust Films Metallic Blues (Dan Verete, 2004) – view prior to class and write a film response Walk on Water (Eytan Fox, 2004) – in class Loshitzky, Yosefa, “Postmemory Cinema: Second-Generation Israelis Screen the Holocaust,” in Identity Politics on the Israeli Screen.

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