University of Bordeaux

This seminar explores one of the richest periods in the history of the American cinema. For many reasons (economic as well as cultural and socio-political ones), the 1970s saw the budding of a new kind of cinema that was totally opposed to the earlier classical way of making films in Hollywood. These reasons are analyzed before dealing with this new conception of the cinema. The core of the seminar is the detailed study of the most typical features of the main films of the period. The classes alternate the study of some representative scenes with a more global view of how the cinema was conceived by all these talented directors (Bogdanovich, Penn, Hopper, Altman, Coppola, Scorsese, Friedkin, De Palma) and by some producers (Schneider, Rafelson, Evans). There also is a focus on William Friedkin, whose career encompasses the most striking facets of that conception of the cinema, the director having somehow managed to outlive the glorious 1970s to enrich his filmography in the twenty-first century with films that still ensue from the canon of the now late New Hollywood. The reasons why this New Hollywood ended in the early 1980s are uncovered, and students look for some traces of its heritage in the cinema of the following decades, not only in Hollywood but also around the world. For this seminar, the students need to watch some of the key films of the period, including: BONNIE AND CLYDE (Arthur Penn, 1967), ROSEMARY'S BABY (Roman Polanski, 1968), EASY RIDER (Dennis Hopper, 1969), MIDNIGHT COWBOY (John Schlesinger, 1969), THE WILD BUNCH (Sam Peckinpah, 1969), LITTLE BIG MAN (Arthur Penn, 1970), MCCABE AND MRS MILLER (Robert Altman, 1971), THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971), THE FRENCH CONNECTION (William Friedkin, 1971), THE PANIC AT NEEDLE PARK (Jerry Schatzberg, 1971), THE GODFATHER (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972), SISTERS (Brian De Palma, 1973), THE EXORCIST (William Friedkin, 1973), MEAN STREETS (Martin Scorsese, 1973), DOG DAY AFTERNOON (Sidney Lumet, 1975), ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (Milos Forman, 1975), TAXI DRIVER (Martin Scorsese, 1976), THE DEER HUNTER (Michael Cimino, 1978), APOCALYPSE NOW (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979), HEAVEN'S GATE (Michael Cimino, 1980).

This course provides thirty-minute voice lessons where students each choose a song they wish to improve. Each student in the group gets a few minutes to work on their song with the professor.

This class is a look at historical religious architecture in the Middle East and Europe at the end of the Antiquity to the Roman Empire (4th-7th centuries). The second half of the semester is exclusively on the roman architecture of the 6th and 7th centuries. Students learn techniques to analyze architecture, understand relevant documents, be introduced to specific vocabulary, and architectural techniques and structures.

The course begins by discussing some classical theses of the sociology of religion, in particular, those developed by Émile Durkheim in the ELEMENTARY FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. The course then focuses on the study of contemporary forms of religiosity. Among the themes discussed are: the link between religion and technology (especially the Internet), the relationship between politics and religion, the economic dimensions of religious behavior, and the international circulation of religious practices.

This course on sociology of education presents the evolution of the school system and sociological theories on education. It is divided into 4 parts : presentation of the history of school, it's development and how it has transformed socialization conditions and family roles; inequalities in the French school system, how making school accessible to masses does not mean democratization; Impact of this massification on the meaning of school, and the notion of justice at school; new themes in sociology including school policies, differences between public and private education, and school evaluation matter.

Long neglected in French film studies, socio-cultural approaches today constitute a field of teaching and research marked by a strong dynamism and a plurality of questions: cultural history, socio-history, audience sociology, cultural, gender, race, or reception studies. This course revisits the history of cinema by cultivating a critical mind towards representations, analyzes various films according to issues from cultural history, socio-history, sociology of audiences and/or various Anglo-Saxon studies, introduces students to theoretical and methodological tools specific to socio-cultural approaches, and takes into account and analyzes the ethical, political, and ideological implications of film and audiovisual productions. The targeted skills of this course are knowing how to use the main theoretical and methodological tools relating to socio-cultural approaches, being able to analyze artistic, cinematographic and audiovisual works according to the representations they offer, and knowing how to contextualize the filmic objects studied in order to assess and understand their meanings and their challenges on the social and cultural level.