Module Convenor: Anna Toropova

 

Having roots in late nineteenth-century studies of human movement and neurological disorders, the cinema has been closely intertwined with science and medicine since its emergence. This module will trace cinema’s development as a key instrument of medical training, scientific research and health education in the first half of the twentieth century. In seminars, we will explore how a range of disciplines in the human sciences turned to film as a tool of documentation, analysis, demonstration and public communication. Examining how the cinematic medium has shaped ideas about health, illness and treatment, the module explores film’s role in articulating new modes of seeing the ‘normal’ and the ‘pathological’.

This 15 CAT module introduces students to key developments in scientific and medical cinematography from the late nineteenth century to the aftermath of WWII. The seminars will explore cinema’s emergence as a key technique of managing and regulating the human mind and body while also considering the ways in which film has challenged the agendas of biomedicine. Students will have the opportunity to closely analyse a range of medical and scientific films from the US and the UK, the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, France and Romania, and to develop their understanding of cinema’s role in twentieth-century scientific and medical history.

 

Syllabus

The course will be taught over 9 weeks. The first part of the module (weeks 1-5) will cover the use of film in the analysis of human movement, in clinical observation and in the advancement of public health initiatives. The second part of the course (weeks 6-9) will explore attempts to study the film viewer’s psychophysiology, to harness cinema’s powers in the service of therapeutic goals, and to translate medical and scientific ideas into a popular vernacular. We will also consider the ‘dark side’ of medical cinema—the use of film in the advancement of eugenic agendas.

This is an indicative module outline (actual sessions may differ):

Week 1: Physiology, Neurology and the Cinematic Analysis of Human Movement

Week 2: Reading Medical and Scientific Films

Week 3: Medical Cinematography during the First World War

Week 4: Cinema, Observation and the Psy-disciplines in the Interwar Period

Week 5: Cinema, Health Enlightenment and Behaviour Transformation

Week 6: Probing the Heart and Mind of the Viewer: Scientific Enquiries into Film Spectatorship

Week 7: The Hypnotic Screen: Film as Therapy

Week 8: Cinema and Eugenics

Week 9: Freud comes to Hollywood: Medical Themes in Popular Cinema

 

Assessment

• Seminar Contribution (20%)
• 3000 Word Essay (80%)