This course explores cinema's century-long fascination with animals. Its investigations are organized around three central questions. First, what does cinema teach us about animals (why and how we look at animals on film, how we represent and understand animals through film, and what lessons we hope to gain from animals on film)? Second, what do animal films reveal or teach us about the cinema? Third, what are the aesthetic, theoretical, and ethical stakes of such encounters between animals and cinema?
This course explores cinema's century-long fascination with animals. Its investigations are organized around three central questions. First, what does cinema teach us about animals (why and how we look at animals on film, how we represent and understand animals through film, and what lessons we hope to gain from animals on film)? Second, what do animal films reveal or teach us about the cinema? Third, what are the aesthetic, theoretical, and ethical stakes of such encounters between animals and cinema?
