I offer a course on (mainly mainstream) cinematic portrayals of international relations and interactions--using films such as V for Vendetta, Battle of Algiers, Avatar, Dr. Strangelove, Night of the Living Dead, Last Emperor, Fight Club, The Mission, and many others. We discuss culture, politics, colonization, the state, IGOs and international law, war, and utopian/dystopian futures. I would also be interested to read any recommended syllabi, film reviews, critical essays, or other analyses of film and cinema. Many thanks!
I recommend three films that provide profound reflections on contact between Western and non-Western cultures.
La Vallé (Barbet Schroeder, 1972)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ROovzY6Fg
The Mission (Roland Joffé, 1986), already on your list
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-l2-Q7vODc
Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner, 1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ICbZVs9TU
Dances with Wolves has very similar themes to Avatar--it would be interesting to have students compare and contrast the two. I haven't seen La Vallé and will have to check that one out. Thanks.
I find that the old war movies are useful for discussing realism and liberalism; Dr. Strangelove stereotypes many of the characters and their personality traits.
My syllabus for the film course is attached...
Your course looks great, David.
What originally drew me to La Vallée was the soundtrack by Pink Floyd, released as Obscured by Clouds, one of my favorite albums from the 70s. I didn't see the film until a couple of years ago, and I was impressed.
I have worked with films, both in the classroom as well as in management research.
In the classroom, working with the films:
- About Culture, I use the movie: 'Just Check'.
- About Culture, values, attitudes and job satisfaction, I use the movie 'Door to Door'.
- About Culture and People Management, Use the movie 'The Devil Wears Prada'.
In research, I have published a few articles with the theme of the film language, in addition to my Master's Thesis has been performed with the screening of the film 'The King's speech'.
Regards,
Alessandra Demite G. Freitas
(I'm from Brazil, sorry for the mistakes in English).
I recommend Burn!, a superb Spaghetti Western discussing decolonisation, informal imperialism and covert interventions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn!
On a completely different cinematic genre and political orientation, "Theories of international politics and zombies" by Daniel Drezner is a brilliand and quite funny introduction to International Relations theories through... post-apocalyptic movies!
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9388.html
Best,
Paolo Chiocchetti
And of course, how did I forget about it, the South Park episode S07E04, "I'm a little bit country", on the principles of American foreign policy :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_a_Little_Bit_Country
Thanks--an interesting list. I'll look for East is East; haven't seen that one yet.
You can also use Red Dawn 1985 to speak of the cold war and use the new version from 2012 to discuss fear from China. the funny thing there is that the movie was filmed about a surprise Chinese innovation to the US, but out of fear of losing the Chinese market, the enemy was changed in post production to North Korea. Another interesting point is using 007 movies across time to discuss how the "enemy" has changed across time.
Other goodies, Star troopers, Ender's Game. Enjoy.
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006) is one of the best dystopian films ever made, in my humble opinion. It makes a strong statement about recent immigration policy. There are lots of clips on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=children+of+men
One film that I found particularly interesting about international affairs is Charlie Wilson's War with Tom Hanks. In particular it shows the challenges of creating and carrying out foreign policy without understanding other cultures.
Blood Diamond, Reluctant fundamentalist, Charlie Wilson's war, Last King of Scotland, Mighty heart are pretty good as well.
Good bye Lenin (W. Becker, 2003). Very good comedian about the end of Cold War in Berlin. It's a good movie to stimulate debates about capitalism and real socialism.
Check out The Whistleblower (2010); Human (2015); No Escape (2015); The Gunman (2015); 13 Hours (2016) --- and let me know what you think.
Although this question was made several years ago, let me recommend two articles. They deal with these issues, the first one analyzing Avatar and the second one Bend it like Beckham.
Madsen, K.D. 2014. Blue Indians: Teaching the political geography of imperialism with fictional film. Journal of Geography 113 (2):47-57. doi:
10.1080/00221341.2012.759994.
Algeo, K. 2007. Teaching cultural geography wit Bend it like Beckham. Journal of Geography 106 (3):133-143. doi: 10.1080/00221340701632781
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